Pain de Mie or Pullman Loaf

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The recipe for this pain de mie is from the King Arthur flour website.  I made it a few times before when I lived in Denver. I had to adjust the recipe a bit to get the recipe to work at altitude.  It oozed out of the lip of the pan, right under the cover, onto the oven.  I’m now at sea level so this time around I made it as written.  The amount of dough is perfect for a 13”x4”x4” (1.5 pound) pullman pan.  

The recipe does include items that are not commonly stocked in most kitchen pantries. When I made this before, I had a difficult time finding potato flour so I used mashed potato flakes as a substitute. It turned out fine. This time I searched my pantry and found some potato flour.  I must have grabbed it because I made a mental note that I needed it. I don’t use powdered milk all that often but I purchased some for another recipe. I did not use King Arthur flour for this recipe. I usually buy the King Arthur bread, white whole wheat, and cake flours but for all purpose I usually buy the unbleached Gold Medal or Trader Joe’s brands. This loaf was made with Trader Joe’s all purpose flour. 

When I first started experimenting with yeast, I bought the Red Start and Fleischmann's brands but after reading Bread Baker's Apprentice, I started using instant yeast. I now use SAF instant yeast (the red bag) almost exclusively. There was a time when I used both the regular SAF and the SAF Gold but I found the Gold made a negligible difference for sweet dough so most of the time I only have the regular SAF in my freezer. 

I used to knead dough in a Kitchenaid mixer but I found that I get better results using the dough cycle of a bread machine.  I have an older model Zojirushi Bakery Supreme BBCCX20 that I feel does a terrible job of baking but does an excellent job of kneading and proofing dough. The recipe includes mixer, bread machine, and hand methods.  I’m sure you can even knead the dough in a food processor. 

When I was looking to buy a Pullman pan, the only brand I found was the USA brand.  It has a clear coating that I didn’t originally want but now love. Today I forgot to grease the pan and the loaf slid right out after baking. I was a little nervous but I decided to go ahead and bake it rather than scoop out the dough and disrupt the rise.  

Pain de Mie or Pullman Loaf

Makes 1 13”x4”x4” loaf

2/3 cup (5 3/8 ounces) milk
1 cup (8 ounces) water
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
1/4 cup (1 1/8 ounces) Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) potato flour
4 3/4 cups (20 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast

Bread Machine Method: Place all of the ingredients into the pan of your machine, program the machine for Manual or Dough, and press Start. When the cycle is finished, remove the dough and proceed as follows.

Manual Method: In a large bowl, combine the milk, water, butter, salt and sugar. Add the dried milk, flours and yeast, stirring till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 5 to 8 minutes, or until it's smooth and supple. Because of the relatively high fat content of this dough, it's a real pleasure to work with. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Mixer Method: Combine the ingredients as above, using a flat beater paddle or beaters, then switch to the dough hook(s) and knead for 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise till doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

Lightly grease a 13 x 4-inch pain de mie pan. Transfer the risen dough to a lightly greased work surface, shape it into a 13-inch log, and fit it into the pan. Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise until it's just below the lip of the pan, 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen (it may rise even more slowly in a cool kitchen; don't worry, this long rise will give it great flavor).

Remove the plastic, and carefully place the cover on the pan, let it rest an additional 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 350°F. Bake the bread for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, carefully remove the lid, and return the bread to the oven to bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until it tests done; an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center will register 190°F. Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.