100% Whole Wheat Pain de Mie
The best bread for thin-slicing is called pain de mie, a butter- and milk-rich loaf baked in a special lidded pan (often called a Pullman pan, just to make things confusing!) The lid ensures that the baking bread won't expand too much, keeping it very close-grained-and thus totally non-crumbly, and easy to slice.
1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm milk
1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
1/3 cup (1 3/4 ounces) Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
1/3 cup (2 ounces) potato flour or heaping 3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounces) potato flakes
5 cups (21 ounces) King Arthur 100% Organic White Whole Wheat Flour*
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
*For the very best results, we recommend our organic white whole wheat flour. Barring that, choose our regular white whole wheat flour. Using a traditional whole wheat flour, one milled from red wheat, won't give you nearly the nice results that white whole wheat flour will.
Combine all of the ingredients, and mix and knead them—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—to form a smooth, supple dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
Lightly grease a standard (13" x 4" x 4") lidded pain de mie (pullman) pan. Transfer the risen dough to a lightly greased work surface, shape it into a log, and fit it into the pan. Flatten the top as much as possible. Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise until it's about 1/2" below the lip of the pan, about 45 minutes.
Carefully slip the cover onto the pan, and let it rest an additional 15 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 10 to 15 minutes, until it's golden-brown on top and 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. For a soft, flavorful crust, brush the loaf with melted butter while warm. Yield: 1 loaf.
Reviews
02/01/2009
Incredibly tasty, great texture and "looks" wonderful. I find that when I weigh my flour, the bread turns out better than when I simply scoop, level and toss in.
01/14/2009
I baked this loaf without the expensive lidded pan using unbleached white whole wheat flour and it was delicious with a great texture. Very simple and thr closest I have come yet to commercial loaf. My kids loved it.
05/31/2009
I have a 1 pound bread machine. I wish you would give the ingredients for different sized machines (1, 1.5, and 3 pound).
With this particular recipe, you would need to cut it in half to mix/knead in your machine. Given its size, it would probably need be taken out of your machine to rise in another pan and bake in your regular oven. I will surely pass on your request. Elisabeth @ KAF
08/09/2009
This is awful and misleading recipe. First 6 tea spoons of butter BAD FAT). Than sugar and potato flour which is pure starch = more sugar. Calling it 100% whole wheat what a bad joke. Maybe it tastes good after all our brain is hard wired for fat and sugar but this is NOT healthy
Thank you for sharing your comments. The title of 100% Whole Wheat bread refers to the fact that there is no white flour in the recipe, and is not a claim on the nutritional rating of the bread. We do not write recipes to be low fat or low sugar, but we do try to show customers how to incorporate more whole grains into their diets, and recommend folks with health questions keep in touch with their physicians and nutritionists. Thanks again for posting. MJR @ KAF
08/19/2009
Can I use my 2 lbs bread machine to knead the dough from this recipe?
Yes, you may use your bread machine to prepare the dough. Frank @ KAF.
09/02/2009
This bread is so great and way easier to make than I thought it would be! I ordered the pullman pan and decided to try this recipe in it first as a sandwich bread for the kids. I love the taste and texture-it slices and holds up well and my kids love the taste so much that they don't miss supermarket bread anymore. I don't mind the use of butter and sugar in a recipe and 6 Tbsp. is not a lot considering the size of the loaf. I usually make the 100% whole wheat sandwich bread recipe and that has 5 Tbsp. butter and the same amount (3 Tbsp.) of sugar. The only bad thing about it is that I expected it to last longer than a standard size loaf but I still find myself baking a loaf a week.
09/15/2009
Another great recipie from KA! I just invested in a pullman pan in hope of making loafs that work well for my children's lunches. This is a nice basic recipie for sandwich bread. Instead of covering with plastic wrap I put the lid on and left it open just an inch or so and covered the opening with loose plastic wrap. This way I hoped to minimize any disruption to the rising bread. When the dough had risen within an inch of the top I closed it completely and let it rise another 10 - 15 minutes before baking. I do have one problem with the loaves I have made. When removing the baked loaf from the pan - a small thin crust has creeped under the rim of the lid, it took quite an effort to chip the crust off the rim so I could get it out of the pan and did some damage to the integrity of the loaf. Once the crust is chipped off the loaf comes right out but I am afraid the pan and the bread suffer in the process. Any suggestions? Manette, A little less proof should help tame that loaf. Try adding the lid at 1.5" from the top next time. Frank @ KAF.
10/15/2009
This tastes as good as 100% whole wheat can, I think. And the "white whole wheat" tastes better -- and works better in this recipe -- than regular red whole wheat. But I have the opposite problem from Manette: my dough does not rise enough to reach the nice square corners of the pullman pan. I admit, I'm one of those people who can't follow a recipe exactly (e.g., adding a sponge at the beginning); more to the point, I knead by hand, though always for at least 15 min. Should I add a little gluten and knead harder? Proofing longer doesn't seem to work. Thanks, I love you guys!
We love you, too! If your dough is too dry it won't rise as high. How do you measure your flour? If you use the dip and scoop method, make sure you fluff the flour in the container and then sprinkle the flour into the cup. You'll get a more accurate measurement. If you do this or use a scale, try adding an extra tablespoon or two of either the milk or water. Molly @ KAF
10/24/2009
I do use a scale -- but, kneading by hand, I tend to add a fair amount of flour while kneading. Today I "stuck" to exactly 21 ounces even though the dough got pretty sticky and it worked perfectly. Best pain de mie yet! Thanks again Molly.
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