Simply White Bread

If you know me, you know that I hate crusty breads.  If we are served crusty breads at a restaurant, I will dig out the soft innards and put the crust on Sean’s plate.  When Stacy and Ronnie were off on their crusty sourdough kicks, I was like whatevs have fun chewing crust!  I went out and bought a pullman pan.  This pan will produce a 1.5 lb loaf, with very minimal crust.  The pullman pan comes with a lid but I’m not 100% convinced for the need, it’s convenient and all but I can spend that $14 on shoes (or 1/10th of a shoe…) or something.  I just use a cookie sheet on top, and a cast iron skillet on top of that to weigh it down.  The point of this pan is to not let the bread rise, so it is denser and most important, NO HARD CRUSTS!  This bread is perfect for sandwiches and toast.

Pain de Mie (this is the french way of saying white bread)
adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup (5 3/8 ounces) milk
• 1 cup (8 ounces) water
• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
• 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
• 1/4 cup (1 1/8 ounces) Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
• 3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) potato flour
• 4 3/4 cups (20 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast

Directions:

1. Combine the ingredients as above, using a flat beater paddle or beaters, then switch to the dough hook(s) and knead for 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with saran wrap and allow the dough to rise overnight in the fridge to develop better flavors.
2. Take your dough out of the fridge and let it rest for 30 minutes to warm up a bit.
3. Lightly grease a 13 x 4-inch pain de mie pan. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, shape it into a 13-inch log, and fit it into the pan. Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise until it’s just below the lip of the pan, about 2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.
4. Remove the plastic, and carefully place the greased cover on the pan, let it rest an additional 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 350°F. Bake the bread for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, carefully remove the lid, and return the bread to the oven to bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until it tests done; an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center will register 190°F. Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

One of the reviews at king arthur said the flavor was a little bland, so I took the liberty of letting it rise in the fridge overnight.  This usually results in a more flavorful end product, and this bread did turn out very flavorful and delicious.

And the debut of my new cake stand!!! With bread in it!!!  This cake stand is so awesome, it’s also a punch bowl AND a dip thiney-a-mabobber!  (Just for you Stacy)