Back To Basics

I haven't posted anything for a few weeks - since June 27, in fact. And almost daily, Nik has suffered through the lamenting litany of I should have's, I was going to's, I need to's, and I didn't's. Even having out-of-town guests over the July Fourth weekend didn't stimulate my maternal ("eat...Eat...EAT!")/dramatic ("how about a gigantic strawberry shortcake with sparklers and Roman Candles?")/ or guilty-egocentric ("They come to our house, they are expecting something good to eat.") personality traits sufficient to move me toward the oven. Well, no, that's not quite true...it's not true at all, really. I did make some little Earl Grey-Lemon shortbread cookies - yummy but ugly. Seriously ugly - Cousin James saw them on the baking sheet after they came out of the oven and he thought they were slices of sausage for some type of tasty little appetizer. Nope - just homely greyish butter cookies.

Rule: Cookies shouldn't look like sausage.

But it didn't matter. We ate them anyway.

Then I made bread last week. A couple of hearty multigrain whole wheat loaves and some sourish rustic. Preferment Monday night, mixed them on Tuesday, let them retard in the 'fridge overnight, and baked them on Wednesday. Good plan...faulty execution. I thought I'd be clever and let them do their final rise out in the garage...in the summer...in Arizona - it's the beginning of the monsoon season so it's kinda humid, so really the garage is not greatly different from a fancy, expensive proofbox (heat and humidity is heat and humidity, regardless the source). Warm summer day, day off, good book, swimming pool, iced tea, cold beer, go to the store, make dinner - Oh Crap! The bread is still rising in the garage...or more correctly, the bread is done rising in the garage/the bread cannot rise anymore/the bread has risen to its greatest possible volume and is one vibration away from a mighty deflation/exhalation of CO2...which it did when I everso gingerly placed it in the oven. What a sad sight it was. But yeast are amazing critters, bless their little hearts. They gave it a valiant effort and did manage to rebound and give a meek heartbreaking attempt at ovenspring.

Not pretty bread, but tasty. And we're eating it anyway.

So I was more than pleased to get a call from Chito, asking for a couple of loaves of Pullman Bread. Yeeha...just what I needed to get me back into the baking/blogging frame o' mind...minimal turnaround time, foolproof recipe, and always satisfying to make something so basic/square/good. Thanks Chito! Enjoy.

Pullman Bread/Pain de Mie

(1 loaf)

Water....................................530 grams

Honey.....................................60 grams

Butter (room temp)....................100 grams

Olive Oil..................................26 grams

AP Flour..................................878 grams

Dry Milk...................................60 grams

Instant Yeast..............................10 grams

Salt........................................20 grams

1. Combine water and honey in mixer bowl. Add butter and olive oil.

2. Stir together the dry ingredients then add to mixer bowl.

3. Mix with paddle until incorporated, then mix for additional 5-7 minutes.

4. Preshape into a log, let rest for 10 minutes.

5. Flatten dough into rectangle, shape into log. (This recipe may make a bit too much for some Pullman pans. I cut approx 1 1/2 inches off the end of the log before putting it in the Pullman pan. I use this extra as a Pate Fermente in other doughs.)

6. Butter the Pullman pan (including the top). Place the dough into the pan, and slide the top into place leaving a small opening at the end. Cover the opening with plastic wrap.

7. Preheat the oven to 425.

8. When the dough has risen to approx 1/2 inch from the top of the pan, slide the lid closed and bake 30-35 min. (I usually slide the lid off after 30 minutes and let the top get a little more brown for the final 5 minutes in the oven.)

9. Let cool 5 minutes then invert onto cooling rack.

Variation: I exchange a percentage of the AP Flour for Whole Wheat and/or Rye. You may need to alter (add) the water content, but it doesn't require too much fussing with these additions.