If you have been to the farm in the last few months, there is a very good chance that you ate some delicious homemade Pullman loaf pain de mie. Pain de mie is french bread and it means bread of the crumb. It has the consistency of the best sandwich bread along with the full flavor or a baguette. We bought the Pullman loaf pan when we realized that we were going through 3-4 loaves of grocery store bread, along with our other homemade breads, each week. We wanted to find a way that we could make more of our bread at home. That’s when we discovered the Pullman loaf pan and our lives were changed.
The best part of making homemade pain de mie is that the ingredients are simple. However, it can take awhile to let it rise.
First combine the dry ingredients. The only odd ingredient is the powdered milk, but it really does make the bread rich, and gives it a fantastic consistency. If you are worried about proofing the yeast, you can add it during the wet ingredient phase.
Next take the wet ingredients and combine.
Before adding the butter cut it into smaller pieces so that it can better incorporate.
Next allow the bread to knead in the stand mixer until it begins to pull away from the side of the bowl. Allow the bread to rise until it has doubled in size and then knead for another 10 minutes.
Next punch down the bread and move it over to the Pullman loaf pan. The goal is to stretch dough so that it will rise evenly.
Once the bread has risen to the top of the pan put it into a 350 degree oven and allow it to bake for 35 minutes with the lid on. Then remove the lid and allow the top of the bread to brown evenly.
Once the top has browned remove the loaf and allow it to cool and the result is a perfect loaf of bread that it sweet and rich
Recipe:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cups powdered milk
1 cup milk
2 eggs
6 tablespoons butter
Combine flour, sugar, powdered milk, yeast, and salt in stand mixer and combine together with dough hook. Next combine milk and eggs and add to dry ingredients in stand mixer on a low speed. Cut the butter into small pieces and slowly add to the dough. Knead the dough on a low speed for 10 minutes or until it is fully combined. Allow to rest until the dough has doubled in size punch down and knead with dough hook for 10 minutes. Allow the dough to double again and punch down. Transfer to the Pullman loaf pan. Make sure the the dough is evenly distributed and allow to rise again until it is all most to the top of the pan. Put into a 350 degree oven and allow to bake with the lid on for 35 minutes. Remove the lid and allow the top to brown. Remove from the oven once browned. Take the bread out of the pan and allow to cool.
