Pain de mie (Sandwich Bread)

Ever since I started baking breads around a year back, I have been intrigued by this pullman loaf tin. I have read a lot about the history of these tins and since then wanted to buy one for myself and bake such a wonderful square sliced loaf 🙂

From the wiki: The pullman loaf,  sometimes called the “sandwich loaf” or “pan bread”, is a type of bread made mostly with white flour i.e. all purpose flour and then it is baked in a long, narrow, lidded pan. The French term for this style of loaf is pain de mei. The name “Pullman” was derived from its use in the compact kitchens of the Pullman railway cars. Although the Pullman company is credited with inventing the lidded baking pans used to create the square loaves, square tin pans existed long before the railroad company. European breadmakers began using the pans in the early 18th century to minimize crust. However, the loaves were selected by Pullman for use on his trains. Three Pullman loaves occupied the same space as two standard round-topped loaves, thus maximizing the use of space in the small Pullman kitchen. 

Last month when my brother and family visited India, they got lots of baking related products for me which included a big sized (13 × 4 ×4 inches) pullman loaf pan by the USA pans. Oh boy!! What a sturdy and majestic tin ! It being a big sized pan and we being a small family of three, I was quite skeptical to use it. I had lots of anticipatory fears regarding the actual amount of flour that should be added to get the perfect flat top bread. Though I must mention that I have a couple of local aluminum bread tins with lid. But I have found that when I use it to make flat topped breads, the top gets a bit soggy due to vapour condensation in the lid. All these thoughts were really disturbing me and I was really keen to get a perfect Sandwich Bread in my new tin.

King Arthur Flour’s blog came to my rescue. I found the perfect recipe for the 13″ pan. This being my first attempt with the pan, I have not made many changes in their recipe. Though I have reduced the quantity of yeast, sugar and salt to suit my taste and weather conditions. I will try various versions and update my blog for sure. This recipe is a very rich recipe with lots of butter, milk and milk powder. The KAF team was very helpful to give me various tips on how to avoid potato flour mentioned in their recipe. I even had some issues with the lid of the pan being tight and it was resolved again with their help. So heartfelt thanks to the whole team.

Ingredients:

• Unbleached organic all purpose flour 580-600 gm (4 3/4 – 5 cups)
• Salt to taste
• Sugar 1 tbsp
• Butter 75 gm
• Instant yeast 1 1/4 tsp
• Milk powder 1/2 cup
• Milk 1 cup
• Water 2/3 cup

Method:

• Mix flour, salt, sugar, instant yeast and milk powder in a big glass bowl.
• Gently heat the milk, water and butter till it is lukewarm.
• Add the liquid ingredients to the dry flour mixture and knead well for 10-12 minutes till you get a soft and elastic dough.
• Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and keep it covered with a cling film to allow the dough to double in volume. It took almost an hour for the dough to double.
• Meanwhile grease the pullman loaf pan and the inner surface of the lid liberally with any oil. Make sure the lid is also greased. (I have used canola oil for greasing)
• Gently degas the dough and knead for a minute or two.
• Roll the dough into a rectangle using a rolling pin.
• Fold the dough and roll it tightly into a log of length 13 inches. Pinch the seams securely.
• Place the prepared log into the greased pullman loaf tin and cover the tin with a clean shower cap and allow the dough to rise almost 1 inch below the rim of the tin. ( It took almost 30-35 minutes to reach this stage)
• Now start to preheat your oven at 175-180 degree Celsius for ten minutes.
• Close the tin with the greased lid and wait till the oven is preheated.
• Place the tin inside the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
• Now take the tin out of the oven and slowly remove​ the lid.
• Keep the tin back in the oven and bake for 10 more minutes or till the inside temperature of the bread is around 90 degree celsius.
• Remove the tin from the oven and place the tin sideways on a cooling rack.

• Wait for 5-6 minutes avd slowly transfer the bread onto a cooling rack.
• You can brush some butter on top of the crust if you wish to.
• Allow the loaf to cool for atleast 2-3 hours before you slice them. You can keep a moist soft towel on top of the loaf while it is cooling.
• Slice the bread with a long serated knife and enjoy it with a smear of jam or marmalade or peanut butter. Make a perfect sandwich or a cheese toast or enjoy these with a nice fluffy omlette, the choice is yours.

Notes:

• I have found this recipe to be quite high on usage of butter. I do intend to bake a version with healthy olive or canola oil. Will surely update the outcome.
• Also will try a combination of wwf and apf in the same tin and then fully 100% wwf pain de mei. So keep hooked on to this post for further updates.
• You can freeze the bread in a zip lock bag and keep it fresh for 8-10 days. Whenever you need it, thaw it on the counter for few hours and use it.
• I would suggest not to slice the entire bread and to store the unsliced bread. Slice it after it thaws a bit in room temperature.
• Just see the slices, how thin they are 🙂