Pain de Mie

 31 August 2022

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 90. 

I had not tried this recipe for sandwich bread from the book, Bread Illustrated, because it requires a special Pullman loaf pan that I did not have. The Pullman loaf pan has a cover which produces square loaves of bread without the rounded top that we are accustomed to with a standard loaf pan. When a recent issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine included another recipe that used a Pullman loaf pan, a recipe that seems similar to my regular white sandwich bread recipe (Japanese milk bread), I decided it was time to purchase a Pullman loaf pan and try these recipes.

Other than the covered pan, making pain de mie is similar to other recipes for white bread. AP flour, yeast, and salt were whisked in the bowl of a stand mixer. Milk, water, melted butter, and honey were whisked in a measuring cup. Using a dough hook on the mixer, the liquid ingredients were slowly added to the flour mixture then kneaded for about 8 minutes. The dough was placed in a large measuring cup to rise until doubled in volume.  The risen dough was patted into a 12x10-inch rectangle and rolled into a log. The seam was pinched shut and the log was placed in the Pullman pan. The lid was placed on the pan and closed, leaving a 2-inch opening, and the dough left to rise to the lip of the pan. Then, closing the lid completely, the bread was baked in a 350° oven, removing the cover about halfway through baking.

In addition to providing square slices of bread, the Pullman pan is supposed to lead to a crumb with a finer texture and a more tender crust than you would get in an open loaf pan. This recipe made a perfectly acceptable sandwich bread. The crumb had larger holes in the center than I expected. I think this is partly because I didn't roll it tight enough.  However, the photos in the cookbook also had a more open crumb that I expected so perhaps the structure is inherent to the recipe. I do like the square shape. With a regular loaf pan you can get some rather odd shaped bread slices, with this pan slices are uniformly square.