la miche de Nana

Miche or country bread, is typically a large round loaf made from either natural leavening or bakers yeast. Most traditional versions of this bread are made with a combination of white flour, water, leavening and salt.

La miche de nana (Nadra my mother in law) is the sweet version of this traditional bread, tastes like brioche and even more delicious!

Spending time with the family, cooking together, chatting and laughing is a treasure! Preparing this miche was so fun over 3 stages to get this golden braid!

It’s a very simple recipe made with love. The secret is patience. For 4 braids of 35cm each you need:

• 1 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of mahaleb (aka St Lucie cherry or prunus mahaleb)
• flour to knead the dough

Mix butter and sugar. Add milk, eggs, vanilla, yeast, baking powder and mahaleb. Add flour little by little and knead the dough until it’s not sticky anymore. Let it rest for at least 6 hours, or overnight for a better leavened dough.

Divide it into four parts and each part to three equal parts to make the braids. You can always reduce the recipe in half if you don’t want to make the whole quantity. But trust me it’s so delicious you will regret not to!

Again you have to keep it to rest for ten hours before baking. That’s why i said patience is the key to a successful miche.

Brush the surface with egg yolk and bake for 20-25 minutes on 200ºC.

The irresistible aroma filling the house will kill your patience. I am sure  you will not let it cool to try your first piece that will drag many more!

You can shape it other than braids, for instance teta prepared these small parts for nady! He was so excited and participating in the whole process!

Family cast for this yummy yummy  miche:

• Teta nana: “the loving baker”, who prepared everything
• Aunty Salma: “the great observer,” taking notes of the recipe, promising to bake it after her wedding which is so soon yeyyy!!
• Uncle Hani: “the miche taster” and Nady’s football buddy
• My precious Nady: “The energy sucker”, who made the process longer, we were all running after him, and we ended up by dancing in a circle 🙂
• Antoun: “long distance killer” kept updated on whatsapp and facetime until he joins in two weeks
• And me behind the cam!

Sahten! God keep your families and happy times to all!