The Pullman Bread Pan

I did something decidedly not frugal yesterday.

As much as I have been baking bread lately, I didn’t own a bread pan so while I was out on errands I went to a cooking store to buy a couple of good pans.  I learned my lesson long ago about using cheap bake ware so I knew I was going to get something with a good construction and a good reputation.

I found what I was looking for at a decent price but then I was drawn in by another item in the same aisle.  I hadn’t seen a Pullman loaf pan in years, likely because they had fallen out of vogue when the more organic-shaped artisan breads became popular.  The Pullman pan looks a lot like a metal rectangular box with a lid, by all accounts.

Pullman bread isn’t fancy, in fact it doesn’t look all that different from a loaf of sandwich bread you might buy at the supermarket but that’s where the similarities end. 

A loaf of Pullman bread is dense and hearty; the perfect wrapper for any sandwich and a definite contender for the greatest French toast bread in history.

Wanting to save a little cash I opted for the smaller Pullman pan that measures 8 1/4”x4”x4” as opposed to the more standard 13” model but I didn’t expect to have such a problem locating recipes for this type of bread pan.  Because of the confining space in a lidded pan your bread dough has to be measured well to fill all the available space without overfilling.

It may take a few tries to get the right proportions down for my pan but I plan to report back soon with my very own perfect Pullman loaf recipe.

Okay, I did all that talking first in the hopes that some of you wouldn’t read to the end to find out that I spent thirty bucks on that Pullman pan.  I know, I’m ashamed.

A little.