The Food Groupie Club

Hi my name is Sarah and I'm addicted to food. I have been a chef professionally for about 12 years now and am currently teaching cooking classes at a culinary school. I seriously love to cook and eat good food. The problem with cooking and eating like the professionals though is that it can be kind of intimidating for a home food enthusiast. My goal is to bring good food into every-day homes. Anyone can make healthy, good quality, good tasting, and good looking food with the right know-how. So here you go....cooking made easy by a professional!

I will be featuring some of my favorite chef's recipes in my posts and will note in the post what book was used. Their books that I use will be listed in my must have cookbooks tab.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

100% Honey Whole Wheat Pullman bread

A couple months ago I bought a pullman pan.  
Since then I've been on a quest for the perfect 100% whole wheat pullman recipe.  Pullman pans are simple.  For a 13 inch pan you need a 3 pound dough recipe. Simple. If you're doing a white loaf.  Whole wheat bread usually is cut with 1/2 white flour, or there are additional weird ingredients like dehydrated potato flakes, nonfat milk solids, gluten, etc. Whole wheat flour doesn't rise very well because the wheat cuts through the gluten, which is why all the extra stuff.  I don't want the extra stuff in my sandwich loaf.  I played with a few recipes and had the expected rising issues, but also they were dry, and didn't have a good texture (crumb).  I finally tried a recipe from this book:

Finally found the  perfect 100% whole wheat pullman sandwich loaf.  Soft texture, moist, with a perfect crust.  And no weird ingredients.

The recipe is the 100% whole wheat honey loaf on page 10
* The amounts have been changed to 1.5 the books listed recipe to fill a 13 in pullman pan.  Also the book gives you several options of how to mix the dough (mixer, food processor, bread machine).  I always use a mixer so this is the method I'll be showing you how to do.


2 cups whole milk
4 1/2 Tbs Honey
3 Tbs Butter, softened
3 tsp. Salt
3 cups Whole wheat flour
3 cups Whole wheat bread flour
3 tsp. Active dry yeast


Step 1: Mixing and fermenting


Heat the milk slightly (about 105 degrees).  Pour into the bowl of a mixer and add the honey and yeast. Let it stand for about 5 minutes until the yeast bubbles.   Add the butter, salt, whole wheat flour, and 1/2 the bread flour. Mix until combined.  Cover and let stand for 15 minutes. 

 Add in the remaining bread flour and with a mixer fitted with a dough arm knead the dough on medium speed until the dough is smooth and springy.  (about 10 min)
 Cover the bowl and let double in volume (about 1 hour). 


Step 2: Shaping


Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured cutting board. Punch the dough down and roll into a rectangle the length of the pan. 
 Fold the top of the rectangle toward the center, press to seal the edge.
 Fold the bottom of the rectangle to the top to make a cylinder.
Lightly grease the pullman pan and place the dough in the pan seam side down and cover with the lid. Let the dough rise until its about 1 inch away from the top of the pan.

 Bake at 400 degrees with the lid on for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and cooked through.  Immediately turn the loaf out of the pan onto a cooling rack and let cool thoroughly.
Since there's only 2 in our house there is no way we would ever finish this whole loaf in a reasonable amount of time.  This loaf freezes well.  I cut it in half and wrap it in plastic wrap then put it in a freezer ziplock bag.  Just pull it out of the freezer when you need it and it will thaw pretty quickly. It will still be nice and soft and moist with no staling.





15 comments:

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    1. What area do you live in? We have a store called Winco in California that has an amazing bulk foods section. I buy it there. Pretty sure whole foods should have it too. It should be pretty common in most bulk or specialty places. Good luck with your bread! let me know if you have any more questions.

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  2. Would this work using all whole wheat flour instead of the bread flour?

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  3. I made this recipe using all KA white whole wheat flour. It turned out great, this is the first time my bread didn't sink in the pullman pan in the middle. Thanks!

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  4. Is there a substitute for Whole Wheat BREAD Flour? I can't find any in the stores around me.

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  5. I have been looking for a whole wheat bread for my pullman pan. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. The bread turned out perfect and so delicious.

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  6. Which bread slicer would you recommend for a pullman pan loaf?

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  7. Yall if you just add some glutin. Like take out 2 tablespoons of the flour out of the 6 cups add into tablespoons of vital wheat gluten

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  8. Is this recipe for a 13 inch Pullman pan? any idea what whole wheat BREAD flour is? thanks

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  9. Can you use a vegan milk instead?

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  10. I used Ripple plant milk and it did wonderfully. I don't know about the other milks, though. I like Ripple because it has more of a milk body and mouth feel to it and it has a neutral taste. Good luck!

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  11. Makes the best we bread ever. Thanks!!!

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  12. Awesome recipe! I originally made white bread in my Pullman loaf pan but it was so, meh. I have been eating wheat bread for so many years that I knew I needed a wheat bread recipe ASAP. One without all the crap ingredients like vegetable oil. This recipe is perfect! Thank you!

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  13. I made this loaf with Janie’s Mill bread flour and Janie’s Mill Artisan flour, it turned out perfect

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