mini-pullman | Bewitching Kitchen

The idea of baking sourdough in closed containers so that they retain that exact shape is not new and not mine either, you can check Elaine using a larger cube pan (click here), or in her book The Sourdough Bible. In fact, back in 2020, I shared a recipe for a bread made in a loaf tin that takes that concept into a pretty exotic path (click here to learn all about it). In today’s post, I went a little smaller using a pan that in theory is more appropriate for cakes, but I am thrilled with the way these baby cubes turned out. Needless to say, the husband requested these to go “on regular repeat”. I have no objection to that!

LITTLE SOURDOUGH CUBES
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

300g bread flour (I used Bob Mill’s Artisan Bread Flour)
215g water (for 72% hydration)
30g Super 10 Blend from King Arthur (click here)
8g salt
50g starter (at 80 to 100% hydration, your choice)
sesame seeds to sprinkle on the dough (optional)

Mix all the ingredients in a KitchenAid type mixer. On second-to-lowest speed, mix the dough for about 4 minutes, then remove to a slightly oiled bowl. Proceed with bulk fermentation with folds at roughly ever 45 minutes. Do 4 to 5 total folds, then allow it to ferment at room temperature until almost doubled in size. Portion small balls of dough weighing 90 to 100g each. Place inside the cavities of your mini cube pan. I used this one. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Next morning, turn the oven to 400F. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top of the dough, close the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the lid, bake for 5 more minutes, then carefully take the pan out of the oven, flip the little breads and place them on a rack back in the oven to give uniform color on the sides. This step is optional but I think it gives a better final product, with a more pleasant crust all over.

Allow to cool completely before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I wanted to have a dough that would be almost exactly 600g total in weight, so that I could make six cubes. I wasn’t sure it 100g would be too much or not enough, but decided it was a nice round number to start experimenting. You can definitely play with the hydration level, as the bread is contained, you won’t have issues adding more water, so next time I might go to 75% or even higher.

Some of my cubes were slightly lighter than 100g, maybe 92g. You can see that in some the shape was not totally straight, as if the dough failed to fully expand the whole volume of the cavity. It’s not a serious problem, but if you use the exact same pan, aim for 100 to 105g per space.

They are adorable and delicious! As the husband said, the only problem is that once you start eating, you lose a bit the perspective of how much bread am I really consuming? It is easy to keep going because the slices are so small… I wanted to make croutons, but the cubes were gone next day. I will have to make more soon and save one or two cubes to cut croutons and freeze. It think that will be a perfect use for this bread.

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First things first. Full credit to my dear friend Elaine, for inspiring me to use a pan I had bought a few months ago and was sitting in the basement, feeling neglected (the pan, not the baker). The gadget is a mini-loaf, Pullman style, that makes a cute cube-shaped bread. You can use any type of dough you like, but I went with a simple sourdough.

MINI-PULLMAN SOURDOUGH BREAD
(adapted from Elaine’s master recipe)

225g white flour
25g whole-wheat flour
40g sourdough starter at 100% hydration
175g water
5g salt

Lay a piece of parchment paper in the mini-loaf pan with a little overhang to make it easier to pull the baked bread later. Reserve.

Mix all ingredients for the dough in a medium-size bowl. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

Do a series of foldings every 45 minutes or so until you reach 5 hours bulk fermentation (so do folds for 4 more hours, don’t worry about timing, try to make 4 more cycles of folding. Shape it loosely as a ball, and place in the mini-loaf pan. Cover loosely with plastic and place in the refrigerator overnight. It should fill a little more than half the volume of the pan.

Next morning, heat the oven to 425F. When it reaches that temperature, remove the plastic cover, shut the pan with the metal lid, and bake for 30 minutes. Open the lid, and leave in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes, and invert to remove the bread. Cool completely on a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: For this size of pan, you need to have enough dough so that during baking it will reach the top. However, if you add too much it will end up badly compressed at the top, and the texture of the crumb won’t be homogeneous. The picture above shows the dough before it went into its final fermentation in the fridge. It is perhaps 70% full.

I don’t think you need to add the parchment paper, but it was my first time using this method and I was afraid of the dough sticking to the pan. Not at all the case. I did not grease the pan, and the dough stayed inside overnight in the fridge without any issues.

This recipe makes a small loaf perfect for a family of two or three. Another great advantage is that leftovers will be perfect for cutting as croutons, something we do often. I know I will be using my pan all the time now, not only with sourdough but other types of bread too. I am thinking a marbled charcoal and white in the near future..

Elaine, thank you for that much needed push to put my baking toy to good use!