1.05.2015

Pain de Mie


Pain de Mie is traditionally baked in closed molds or pans in order to minimize the amount of crust and maximize the amount of crumb, or in French, mie.  Basically, it's a sandwich bread. You don't need to bake it in a Pullman type pan...but if you have one, go ahead. That's the traditional way to bake it. 
I originally saw this recipe on Give Me Flour, but have seen it on the King Arthur site as well. It's a lovely loaf, marvelous toasted and great for sandwiches.
But as a bonus, I saw a very cute idea on Alexandra Cooks.  She had made a lentil soup and used a basic bread recipe to make some small individual ramekins of bread. I thought it would be fun to try and they turned out perfectly. Because this recipe yields two loaves, I used half of the Pain de Mie dough to make some little "loaves". (Your favorite bread dough will work just as well.) It was such a clever and fun idea....soup, with your own little round of homemade bread.
While I didn't use butter on the main loaf, I did use butter to coat the ramekins and brushed the tops with butter too.


Pain de Mie
Adapted from Give Me Flour


Yields 2 loaves

Ingredients:

8 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 and 2/3 cups warm water
½ cup olive oil

Method:

By Hand:  In a large bowl, combine water, sugar, salt and olive oil. Add flour and yeast, stirring till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface and knead it for 5 to 8 minutes, or until it’s smooth. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow the dough to rise till puffy or nearly doubled, about 45 minutes (depends on the warmth of your kitchen).

Mixer: Combine flour and yeast in a bowl. Add salt, sugar, olive oil and water to the mixer  bowl and then add the flour and yeast. Mix on low speed with the dough hook attachment for 4 minutes and medium speed for 4 more minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover and allow the dough to rise till puffy or nearly doubled, about 45 minutes (depends on the warmth of your kitchen).
Divide the dough into two pieces, pre-shape into oblongs, cover and let it relax for 15 minutes.
Lightly grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Pat the dough out, fold it over on itself, and then use the side of your hand to seal the edges. Flip the dough so the sealed edge is on the bottom. Roll the dough under your palms into a cylinder 8in long.
Fit it into the pans, sprinkle some flour on top, cover with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour (again, depending on the warmth of your kitchen it may rise even more slowly).
Preheat your oven to 375°F and bake the bread for 40 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely before serving.

The minis:





And I had enough left over to use one of the larger ramekins:



How cute is that?



20 comments:

  1. I love honey breads Barbara and this look delicious! I love this recipe.
    xo

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  2. I love baking bread in different vessels..I do have t a pullman pan from France..:) A dear client brought one back for me..I had no idea what it was..
    Perfect little compact loaves it makes..
    Yours are adorb!

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  3. I love the idea of baking bread in ramekins. I'll keep it in mind for the next time I bake bread - hopefully that won't be far off!

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  4. Those ramekin ones are so adorable...like mushrooms.

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  5. I love those little loafs! That reminds me, I still have some of those little flower pot bread pots somewhere around here!

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  6. I love homemade bread, and this is a gorgeous loaf-The little ramekin breads are adorable too! Nothing makes your house smell better than bread baking! :)

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  7. good gawd i miss bread! i'm out of the flour/sugar (everything good) business until this gut goes away ... but doesn't stop me from loving this amazing blog. best to you in 2015 my dear friend and blogger pal, Ms. Barbara!!! ;)

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  8. The minis are adorable Barbara. I grew up with homemade bread and really miss it.
    Sam

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  9. Those are little cuties! Perfect to go with a steaming bowl of soup!

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  10. Dear Barbara, There really is nothing like homemade bread!! It looks wonderful.
    Happy New Year. xo Catherine

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  11. lovely little loaves! the big guy ain't too shabby either--this sounds like a keeper of a recipe!

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  12. I love the bread recipe and the mini loaves. Happy New Year Barbara. Looking forward to following all of your posts in 2015. We are freezing in NC. Looking forward to being back in Florida.

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  13. The little loaves are so cute! Very Happy New Year to you my dear with good health and happiness!

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  14. The mini loaves are adorable, Barbara! I'd love to make some of those for my grandsons next time they're over :) I also have a Pullman loaf pan that I've never used! This sounds like the perfect recipe to initiate it.

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  15. I love pain the mie...yours look nice, especially the ones baked in the ramekin...really cute!
    Oh! Before I forget...Happy New Year Barbara :)

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  16. Now I'm thinking I need a Pullman loaf pan! The bread baked in the ramekins is really cute!

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  17. Hi Barbara, love this Pullman loaf. Love your little ramekins. Great idea!

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  18. I made your lovely bread, pain de mie & loved it fresh & toasted too!
    It was fun to make too! Very delicious bread! Xxx ����

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