A bit of flour

        I’ve been making the pain de mie a lot these days and forming it into French bread loaves.

I then use it for sub sandwiches, cutting each loaf into three parts. Then I slice each open ¾ of the way. Sprinkle on a little Italian dressing, a little salt, a little pepper. Pile on three kinds of meat, two slices of swiss cheese. Then into the toaster it goes for about 3 minutes. After which time I remove it and add the mayo, the mustard, a few leaves of lettuce and a couple slices of tomato and a couple of pickles.

The last step is to wrap it in plastic wrap very tightly and leave it alone for a few minutes. Just long enough to clean up. Then unwrap as needed and eat. This can be a very messing sandwich, the plastic wrap is definitely a friend, but its also an amazingly delicious sandwich. And its made with far more love than the ones from Subway.

The only thing to note about Julia Child’s pain de mie recipe is that I have to add the 2 oz of butter in by hand. I mix the dough in my bread machine and then remove it to add the butter. I tried doing it all in the machine but the butter kept melting. It didn’t matter what stage of the cycle I added it. Also, the dough will get ‘ropey’ as you work the butter in but it shapes back up after a bit of kneading. Well worth the effort.

Posted on October 7th, 2008 under Bread. Comments: None

In her dvd, Julia Child makes a pain de mie and a raisin bread from the same recipe. I’ve made the pain de mie several times now and I felt I was ready to try the raisin bread.

As I was preparing to mix the dough, I decided to kick it up a notch and turn the finished product into a cinnamon swirl raisin bread. Don’t you just love the swirl pattern?

Speaking of which, ever wonder how to get that cool swirl in the bread?  Just fold the dough into a jellyroll. Right before you put the dough in the baking pan, use your rolling pin to flatten it. Then roll it up and pinch the seams closed.

Sometimes you might have trouble with your cinnamon swirl bread. Often it will develop unsightly gaps where the swirl is supposed to be. 

        To counter this, try brushing water, milk or melted butter on your dough before adding the cinnamon. I’ve read that it helps seal the dough, thereby eliminating the gaps.

I found that my cinnamon swirl raisin bread is great whether fresh from the oven or served as toast the next morning. It’s quite versatile, too. I’ve heard of people using it in bread puddings and French toast. One might even turn it into croutons and add some to one’s soup or salad.

Posted on September 26th, 2008 under Bread. Comments: None

I’ve made many a loaf of bread but never a pain de mie. I first learned of it a number of years ago. However, I decided I’d stick with what I knew. Besides, the large dome on my bread is lovely. Why would I want to nix it?

But in my attempt to expand my horizons, I’ve decided to give it a go.

Small problem, no pain de mie pan. Clever solution, courtesy of Julia Child, allow the dough to rise to within an inch of the side of my loaf pan then cover with buttered foil and put something heavy on it.

I got right to work. My ‘heavy something’ had to be able to tolerate high heat. The rarely used cast iron pan was nominated.

Things were going very well. At least I thought they were, until I had a little peek in my oven. Imagine my horror when I saw that a portion of the dough had escaped and was hanging over. My cast iron pan had been tipped and was resting in the back of my oven.  Argh.

I took the bread out and removed the overhang. I was disappointed; but I must admit that despite its appearance, the bread was delicious.

I decided I’d give it another go round. This time I used a large tile and put the whole set up directly under an oven rack. Now the dough would have to break through tile and steel to rise and if it did that, it deserved to go as high as it liked.  

                                            Result: Success!                  

                             A fine-looking pain de mie.

                Great for sandwiches. Makes wonderful toast.

Posted on September 19th, 2008 under Bread. Comments: None