Pain de Mie (Sandwich Bread)

This yeast bread recipe uses a 13 inch Pullman pan. It makes a delicious bread with a soft crust and fine texture, perfect for sandwiches or toast.

Pullman pans are metal baking pans with a lid, and have a shape that results in nice square bread slices with a soft crust, much like the sandwich bread you may have purchased at the grocery store. Of course when you make your own, you can choose the recipe and slice it as thick or as thin as you like.

USA Pan is a company that makes Pullman pans in the US in the 13 inch size and in a smaller 9 inch size, both having a non-stick silicone coating. This recipe uses the 13 inch pan.

In a large bowl, combine the milk, hot water, sugar, salt, melted butter and yeast. Add the yeast last, after making sure that the temperature of the liquid is not uncomfortably hot to the touch, and stir or whisk the mixture until the yeast is well incorporated.

Add about half of the flour and stir until the flour is wetted but still lumpy. Gradually add the remaining flour, mixing constantly, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. You may have a little flour remaining at this point, and that's OK.

Coat your hands and the work surface with flour and turn the dough out of the bowl onto the work surface. Knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes, pushing the dough away from you firmly with the heels of your hands, turning the dough and folding it in half as you pull it towards you, then pushing it away again and repeating. If the dough sticks to the work surface, sprinkle a little more flour. Be careful not to add too much flour - when this dough is ready, it will be smooth, soft and a little tacky, but will not stick to your hands or to the work surface.

Form the kneaded dough into a ball, add a teaspoon or so of oil to the bowl and spread it around with a paper towel, and put the dough back into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place (75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit is good). Check the dough after an hour - it should have increased in size. though not necessarily doubled in size. If the dough is not at least 50% larger than when it started, leave it in the warm place for up to another hour. Meanwhile, apply a light coating of vegetable oil, butter or shortening to the inside of the Pullman pan and to the bottom of the lid.

Press your fist into the dough to deflate it, turn the dough out of the bowl onto the work surface, and form it into a log about 13 inches long. Press the dough into the bottom of the Pullman loaf pan so that it fills the bottom of the pan completely and is of uniform thickness. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Check the dough after 30 minutes and every 10 minutes thereafter until it has risen to within 1/2 inch to 1 inch of the top of the pan. Remove the plastic wrap and slide the lid onto the Pullman loaf pan, and place the pan into the preheated oven.

Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and take the lid off. Return the pan to the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until the top crust is nicely browned. If you have an instant-read thermometer, the internal temperature of the bread should read 190 to 200 degrees when the bread is done.

Remove the pan from the oven and turn the bread out of the pan onto a wire rack. Let the bread cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing.