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Sourdough Pain de Mie with Scalded Flour
Here’s Breadtopia’s take on French pain de mie or “crumb bread” i.e. bread that doesn’t have a thick crust and is super soft inside and out. Our pain die mie is made with 50% fresh-milled whole grain flour and some of it is scalded. The dough is leavened with sourdough starter, but the resulting bread is not particularly sour even with an overnight refrigeration of the dough.
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Sometimes people who have lidded Pullman pans are hesitant to actually use the lid. Maybe they envision a monstrous dough bursting through the seams of the pan, or worse: the bread forever trapped inside because the lid won’t come off. But in order to achieve the square form and soft crust of our pain de mie, you will have to brave the lid. Don’t worry, it’ll work out.
Many recipes suggest 1100-1200 grams of dough to fill a 13x4x4 inch Pullman pan, but those guidelines are generally for using refined flour (bread or all purpose), and our recipe includes some whole grain flour and is also a fairly enriched dough (oil, milk, honey). Compared with leaner, white-flour doughs, this dough won’t expand as much.
Crunchy but tender after toasting
Our recipe also includes scalding a portion of the flour in order to keep the crumb soft and slow the staling process. We used a 1:3.5 ratio of flour to liquid, which is between the tangzhong method from China (1:5) and yudane from Japan (1:1). This American Chemical Society video offers a fantastic explanation of the science behind scalding or gelatinizing flour.
Scalding takes just a few minutes
Altogether we end up with about 1575 grams of dough for the large Pullman pan. We also retard (refrigerate) the dough at the end of the bulk fermentation, but you can do the entire process at room temperature if you prefer. Retarding the dough during the final proof is also an option, but note that baking from cold extends the bake time by 10-15 minutes.
Perfectly filled pan
Note that substitutions are fine. You can use vegan or non-vegan milks; avocado, light olive oil, or canola oil; and honey, agave, or another liquid sweetener.
If you want to try this recipe in a small Pullman pan (measuring 9x4x4 inches), you should multiply each ingredient by 0.7. Here’s an FAQ explaining how to scale any recipe.
After the Photo Gallery that shows the steps of this recipe, you’ll find a list of additional bread recipes that use flour scalds.
Sourdough Pain de Mie with Scalded Flour
Here's Breadtopia's take on pain de mie with 50% fresh-milled whole grain flour, a scald for extra softness and resistance to staling, and sourdough leavening. This Pullman pan bread works great for sandwiches and toast. The recipe is for a 13x4x4 inch Pullman pan. See the Notes section below for information on scaling the recipe to a different size pan.
Ingredients
Scald
Final Dough
Instructions
Scald
Dough Mixing and First Rise
Dough Shaping and Second Rise
Baking
Notes
Instructions for hand mixing
Mix the ingredients with a spatula, dough whisk, or by hand. Let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes, then perform a round of stretching and folding. Rest the dough for another 20-30 minutes, then do a second round of stretching and folding. At this point, you should be able to pull a windowpane and can let the dough sit untouched for the rest of the bulk fermentation.
Using a different size pan
If you have the smaller Pullman pan (9x4x4), multiply each ingredient by 0.7. For more information on how to scale recipes, check out this FAQ.
Photo Gallery
Other Recipes with Flour Scalds
Sourdough Hokkaido Milk Bread with Tangzhong
Japanese Milk Bread (Yeast Version)
Whole Wheat Sourdough Hokkaido Milk Bread
Scalding Experiment with Spelt Sourdough
Lithuanian Black Rye Bread
Grain Mash Sourdough Anadama Bread
Shopping List
Yecora Rojo Hard Red Spring Wheat Berries
Yecora Rojo Whole Grain Flour
High Protein Bread Flour
Sourdough Starter (Dry)
Mockmill 100 Grain Mill
Bowl Covers (5 pcs)
Pullman Loaf Pan & Cover — Large
Breadtopia’s Choice Kitchen Scale
$18.00Sourdough Pain de Mie with Scalded Flour