Foolproof BreadItaliano

Pullman bread: the recipe

Pullman bread

Sandwich loaf, pullman bread or pain de mie is a bread born to travel.

Pullman bread owes its name to the legendary American long-distance trains, where it was chosen for its geometric shape, which made the best use of space in the dining car kitchens.

In France it's called pain de mie, "bread of the crumb," and that's exactly its unmistakable signature: A wafer-thin crust wrapping a well-developed, finely-holed crumb.

Baked in a "pan," a rectangular tin closed with a lid, this bread rises into a perfect rectangular block. The addition of butter and milk powder gives the crumb a velvety softness and a melt-in-the-mouth texture. It's the ultimate base for perfect toast, textbook French toast, or elegant canapés. A timeless classic that makes every bite special.

This recipe is freely inspired by, or adapted from, a formula by Master Jeffrey Hamelman.

At a glance

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Ingredients

Quantities for 1 piece of 1000 g, kitchen at 20 °C

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Method

  1. Weigh the ingredients and knead (25 min)
    • Use water at 23 °C
    Mix all the ingredients in the mixer until moderately developed.
  2. End of mixing, start of bulk rise (at room temperature) (2 hours)
    Fold the dough once, after the first hour of bulk fermentation.
  3. Divide/shape, start proofing (at room temperature) (1 h 15 min)
    • Divide the dough into as many pieces as you like. Preshape into blunt cylinders and let rest on an unfloured surface, covered with plastic. After 10 to 15 minutes, once the dough is sufficiently relaxed, shape it into long cylinders with no tapers at the ends.
    • Oil the pan and the lid. Place the dough in the pan: It should come about halfway up the sides. Proof with the lid on at about 24 °C.
    About 1 to 1h30 at 24 °C.
  4. Ready to cook
    Load the bread when the dough is about 1.25 cm (½ in) from the top of the pan, checking that the lid is fully closed. Remove the loaves from the pan as soon as they come out of the oven: If they stay in the pan, they will sweat from condensation.

Want to change when you start or when you bake? The calculator gives you the schedule with exact times. Open the calculator

Baking

    • conventional oven, without steam
    • Overall temperature: 204 °C
    • Time: 43 minutes
    • Lid closed on the pan, no steam. Time for 1 kg (2.25 lb) in a 33×10×10 cm (13×4×4 in) pullman pan: A different tin size needs a different time.

The calculator adapts baking times to the weight of your pieces. Open the calculator

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