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