You don’t really want me to tell you how many bricks and thick crusted loaves I have baked in my lovely Pullman loaf pan . . . no you really don’t. 

Theories on how the Pullman loaf pan got it’s name abound.  Named from being served on the Pullman Dining train car?  Maybe.  Named so because it is shaped like a Pullman rail car (some commercial breads even had a picture of a Pullman rail car on the bag)?  Possible.  So named because it’s shape fit storage on a Pullman Dining car - stacked easily and tended to not roll.  That would be helpful on a rolling rail car.

The French have pain de mie, Americans have the Pullman loaf.  Historically, it is a white bread made with some milk and sugar.  Ever wanting something other than the status quo, I wanted a whole wheat Pullman.  I wanted a tight crumb for sandwiches.

Gadfry, you can’t believe the different recipes I tried.  Some would bake and bake and still come out raw inside - most moist breads are going to be done when the internal temperature reaches 205°F IF allowed to cool completely before slicing.  Some loaves would have a half inch “dark, tough crust” on them and still be raw, others had the “dark, tough crust” and were dry and brick like.  I had spent what I thought was a lot of money on a good pan to produce bread nobody could eat . . .

Do you remember when you learned perseverance?   I do, at least it’s the one I’ve got it into my head that taught me the lesson “Don’t quit, keep going.”  I think I might have been all of 8 years old.  As you might expect some of the details are a little hazy.  I’m not sure just what “group” it was but I think it might have been a church group because I remember it was on base (my dad was in the Air Force).  There was some sort of a party and a race where you put your legs into a burlap bag and then hopped across the room to another team mate who took the bag and hopped back across.  As I was hopping across the room I had my “stupid” moment and stopped, ? looking for help or just worry:  those were the two seconds that cost me the race.   I don’t think I developed much of a competitive spirit from that but rather I took away the idea that I should just keep going, I should just keep trying. 

And so when I came across a recipe for Whole Wheat Pullman Loaf in Tyler Florence’s Stirring the Pot - an unlikely source for a great bread recipe - something caught in me to give it a try.  This recipe worked and worked to perfection for me.  I followed the basic amounts for the ingredients only adding in a little flax but I changed the directions to allow for an overnight autolyse with part of the flour & water, skipped a step where the butter was worked into the flour by hand and did all the kneading by hand.

Whole Wheat Pullman Loaf

Adapted from Stirring the Pot

by Tyler Florence

240 ml water (1 cup)

130 g King Arthur all-purpose flour (1 cup)

Mix together, cover and leave at room temperature overnight.

10 g instant yeast (2 teaspoons)

250 ml milk (1 cup)

130 g King Arthur bread flour (1 cup)

390 g King Arthur whole wheat flour (3 cups)***

50 ml honey

60 g butter (1/2 stick)

1 tablespoon salt

30 g flax seed ground

Microwave the butter and milk to just take the chill off the milk and begin to soften (not melt) the butter; add the honey.  Mix yeast and flours.

Pour the milk, honey, butter mix into the overnight autolysed flour and mix well.

Add the flour a cup at a time, the salt and the flax toward the end.

Turn the dough out onto the counter to knead into a firm silky smooth dough - took me about 8 minutes.  Tyler’s instructions were for a stand mixer.

Form into a ball.  Place into lightly oil container.  Cover and allow to double in volume - mine took about 90 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Turn onto the counter and shape into a cylinder.  Roll in whole flax seeds.  Place into VERY WELL BUTTERED pan.  

Be sure to butter the lid heavily. 

Place the lid on but leave the end slightly open to be able to see when the dough has risen to within half an inch of the top.  Cover the open end with plastic wrap to prevent the loaf from drying.  Allow to rise to within half an inch of the pan top.

Close the lid entirely.

Place in oven and bake.  Remove the lid after 40 minutes.  Turn oven down to 375°F and return loaf pan without lid to oven.  Internal temperature was 205°F after another 25 minutes - total baking time 65 minutes.  

Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

We’ve been enjoying this so much as toast in the mornings and for sandwiches at lunch! 

Except for that hole in the middle from the temperature probe so I could decide when it was done, there’s a beautiful tight crumb.  It’s my wonder bread.

I’ll be making this again next week and try a little dab of my starter or my old chef to try for a little deeper flavor.

This goes to Susan at WildYeast for her weekly Yeast Spotting.  I’ve come to look at the weekly Yeast Spotting as a delightful trip to a Bakery Wonderland!  If you’re not familiar with Susan and Yeast Spotting, it’s explained here.

UPDATE

My pan is 13 x 4 x 4 inches.