George Pullman transformed train travel into a relaxing and enjoyable experience, making long-distance travel a wonderful experience. The luxurious rail cars and dining room cars are famous to this day. You can find them in many movies.
Read more about it in this wonderful article by Edward Bottone: The Pullman Loaf Legacy
In 1867, the kitchens in Pullman rail cars were small, requiring efficient use of storage space. The square-shaped loaf, known as “pain de mie,” had been invented in the 18th century using a special lidded pan. However, it was the Pullman Company that popularized it. Ideal for making sandwiches, these loaves also had the advantage of being easily stackable.
The Perfect Sandwich Bread Exists
…. but it might not be the same bread for everyone.
One of the few things I could never quite get used to after moving to Canada from Germany over thirty years ago is the bread. The typical loaf of bread in North America is mainly made from white flour and contains yeast, fat and a lot of chemicals that make it last for a long time without spoiling on the shelf. It is soft and sometimes spongy and has very little taste. The bread in a typical sandwich often serves as just the wrapping for what is inside.
Of course, we can buy better bread from specialized bakeries, especially now, but that was just not an affordable option for me. Now that I bake my own sourdough bread, a whole world has opened up. I direct what goes into my bread and how to bake it. And even with the high-quality organic ingredients I use it is still cheaper than any white loaf I can buy in the store. (Look it up, I did the math.)
One condition with a heartier loaf that contains a lot of whole grain, is that the crust can become a bit of a problem. I saw people (my dear wife 🙂 ) cut off the crust of my bread in order to enjoy their sandwiches.
The Perfect Sandwich Bread
If you are looking for bread that doesn’t have a hard crust and is perfectly suited for your toaster, a sandwich bread baked in a Pullman loaf pan is your best bet. The fact that the loaf pan is closed on all sides, ensures that there is no hard crust on the top.
When I received this large Pullman pan made by USA Pan for my birthday. I was excited and filled it with a double batch of my sandwich bread.
You may remember my Hearty Sandwich Bread recipe from a while ago. When I bake two loaves of this bread, I usually double the amounts in the recipe and use two loaf pans. I did that the first time I used the Pullman pan.
Well, when I took the bread out of the oven, the dough had leaked out of the pan despite the lid and all four sides of the loaf had a very dense layer on the edge. The bread was tasty but certainly not what I wanted to present.
It took me a few more tries until I tweaked the recipe so it was square but not dense on the edges. I finally came up with the right list of ingredients and amounts, so the Pullman pan was filled well and the bread was evenly developed. I am happy to share the recipe with you today.
Even though I like crusty bread, I enjoy this shape and the advantages of this square bread, perfect for sandwiches.
Equipment
- 1 Mixing bowl
- 1 Danish dough whisk optional but recommended
Ingredients
- 85 grams starter fed, bubbly, active starter
- 420 grams warm water (cold if your kitchen is hot)
- 28 grams honey
- 42 grams oil I use avocado oil but olive or others work
- 140 grams spelt flour
- 210 grams whole wheat flour
- 350 grams bread flour
- 13 grams salt
Inclusions
- 98 grams (seven) grain hot cereal I like Anita's Organic Seven Grain Hot Cereal
- 250 grams hot water
- 36 grams ground flax seed optional
- 70 grams walnut pieces optional
Instructions
Fermentolyse
- Mix starter, water, honey and oil in your large bowl.
- Add the flours but not the salt.
- Roughly mix together; the Danish dough hook is great for this. Don't worry if there is still dry flour left.
- Cover and let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes.
In the meantime
- Heat the water and add the multigrain cereal to it.
- Soak the grains in the water for 30 minutes while the dough is resting.
- Measure the salt and add optional dry ingedients.
Bulk Ferment
- Add all ingredients together and mix well by hand or in your stand mixer. Careful, your grains may be hot!
- Cover your bowl for about one hour.
- Stretch and fold the dough to build gluten. Repeat 2-3 times in about 1 hr intervals.
Shape
- Grease your pan liberally with butter or margarine.
- When the dough has about doubled, shape it and put it into the loaf pan. Shaping is not as critical with sandwich bread because the pan holds everything together.
- Leave the bread pan on the counter for about an hour.
Cold fermentation
- Cover your bread with the lid and store it in the fridge overnight.
Bake
- Preheat your oven to 450F (230C).
- Bake for 40 minutes.
- Let your bread cool in the loaf pan for a few minutes.
- Take the bead out of the pan and cool for another hour.
Enjoy!
- Sandwich bread is easy to slice with a good bread knife. I made 25 slices from this bread and froze most of them. When the slices are thawed, you can use them as is or toast them.
