Simple pleasures make me happy: a new cookbook to read in bed before falling asleep, a new pair of earrings (another obsession of mine), a new cooking gadget, like this gorgeous item I succumbed to last week. It’s a beautiful pan to make sandwich bread, that kind that looks like store-bought, but tastes two orders of magnitude better. I bought it with one specific recipe in mind, and in record-breaking speed, the dough was mixed 24 hours after the package from King Arthur arrived.
HONEY-OAT PAIN DE MIE
(from King Arthur)
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) all purpose flour
2 + 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 + 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup + 2 Tbs lukewarm water
Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, and mix until it comes together in a shaggy mass. Cover the bowl, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Then knead for 8 to 10 minutes on second speed (you can also knead by hand until smooth, it will take longer).
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, or in an 8-cup measure (so you can track its progress as it rises), and let it rise for 90 minutes. It should be noticeably risen, but not necessarily double in bulk. Mine definitely doubled after 90 minutes, take a look by clicking here.
Gently shape the dough into a 9″ log. Place the log in a lightly greased 9″ pain de mie (pullman) pan, pressing it gently to flatten. Cover the pan with a plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it’s about 1 inch from the top of the lid. This should take 60 to 90 minutes.
Remove the plastic wrap, close the lid, and bake the bread in a 350 F oven for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the lid (wear mittens), and bake for 5 more minutes to brown the surface. If you want, you can remove the bread from the pan and bake it for another 5 minutes to get a crispier crust. Internal temperature should be at least 190 F.
Remove the bread from the oven, allow it to completely cool before slicing.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Two important pointers for success:
1. Use a recipe that was written for your pan’s dimensions, so that the dough will rise to its full capacity during baking. For instance, this recipe is for a 9 inch long Pullman pan. They all have similar widths, by the way.
2. When placing the shaped loaf inside the pan, allow it to rise until it is 1 inch from the top, as the recipe states. I was a bit impatient (big surprise! ;-)) and also worried about the dough overflowing, so I cut the final rise a bit short. By doing so, my bread was not fully squared, as the top edges never touched the lid. It didn’t compromise the taste or texture of the crumb, but the shape was slightly off.
This bread is absolutely delicious, the oats don’t make it hard or crunchy, it is a perfect bread for simple sandwiches, and also great to slice and bake as home-made Melba type toasts.
I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting event…
ONE YEAR AGO: Carrot and Leek Soup
TWO YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmiggiana 101
Bewitching Kitchen 
Beautiful loaves, Sally! And the earrings are amazing – I adore sterling silver! xxx
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Don’t you think the earrings are a good match to the pan? 😉
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love the bread -I bet it toasts well too with all the honey. I saw this pan at Bakery Bits and started thinking I needed it, such is the power of suggestion, I have two of these, but not a 9 inch one…. 🙂
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But OBVIOUSLY you need a 9 inch pan!
Yes, the bread toasts in a wonderful way, getting that golden brown tone that only honey can give.
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I love oat breads and will definitely try this one. I might buy the loaf pan too, although I swore I would stop buying a single new kitchen item! Trying to downsize these days, not add!
I hope your area wasn’t damaged by the earthquake, Sally!
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Quite a scare last night, Paula… We had our dear neighbors over for dinner, and as Phil and I stood up to clear some dishes from the table, this loud noise hit, and everything started to swing quite violently – it seemed to last for a long time, but now we see in the news it was a little less than 2 minutes. Long 2 minutes, I tell you 😉 In Oklahoma we are not used to this type of stuff. Tornadoes, yes, but the Earth shaking, no thanks!
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Ok, you’re making me completely jealous with all of your kitchen gadget acquisitions – and this one’s a bute!! (Is that a photo of you with the new earrings? Lovely). Your pain de mie is gorgeous. I would not have known, looking at the photo, that it did not get the full rise. (p.s. I am a perpetually impatient cook and photographer :)). Any recipe that has the words honey and oat together in a title gets an instant ooh-aah from me….
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Yeap, that is me. I decided to crop the photo as a close up, to show the earrings better.
Patience is a virtue I don’t have. I keep working on it, trying to get a little better, but… it’s hard to go against our nature, isn’t it?
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Beautiful loaf, Sally! I think I am going to have to take the plunge and get me a pan. I have so many other KA pans, and all of them delight.
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Margie, I dreamed of this pan for such a long time, I’m glad I finally got it – I have another recipe to try possibly this coming weekend, and I hope to get it right as far as the second rise goes.
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I immediately smiled when beginning to read your post as getting a new cookbook to read so excited me and finding a gorgeous new kitchen toy really makes me happy! I’ve not heard of this pan before – I just love learning so many new things! Comforting and fall-like ingredients definitely make this a bread I would love to try! Now to find the pan…
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I actually jumped up and down when the package arrived – I had the tracking info, and it came one day early! Now, with my legendary bad luck with the Post Office, this is reason to celebrate for a year or two…
as far as cookbooks, I recently decided not to feel guilty anymore. There are worse obsessions, this one is harmless. Exactly like earrings. That’s my story…. 😉
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Beautiful bread – I am so impressed!
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Thank you! 😉
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That looks perfect to me!
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I’m so jealous, I want a pullman loaf pan! The honey oat bread does sound a few orders of magnitude better than store-bought. I see King Arthur shopping in my future!
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Don’t be jealous… order one for you! You need it… you want it… you deserve it! 😉
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Sally, you cease to amaze me with your breads! And I forgot to tell you, I remember you mentioned a while back that King Arthur was in Vermont. Well, when we were on our travels out East this summer, we made the point to find it and stop in. I was in HEAVEN! Talk about a kid in a candy shop in that place. I certainly did a little damage in there…and even got a cookbook for bedtime reading. 😉
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Oh, I’d LOVE to visit King Arthur store… actually, Vermont is a place I’ve always wanted to spend time in… Great that you had fun and got a few toys for yourself 😉
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the bread looks divine! So tempting to make it today. I love homemade bread. I could eat it everyday but then that probably wouldn’t be a good idea!
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The great thing about bread is that it freezes well – I usually cut the loaf in half right away and freeze for later. Otherwise, not even exercising 7 days a week would counteract the damage 😉
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That is the coolest pan ever for bread made for sandwiches. Think I need one too.
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