Pain de Mie

Soft, fluffy, fresh-out-of-the-oven white bread is the best kind. This is definitely not the wonderbread that was put in your lunchboxes throughout elementary school. During my breads class this was probably my favorite bread to make because its such a staple pantry item in most households. Being able to make it fresh and by scratch transforms this simple sandwich bread into something completely wonderful.

The butter, the salt..you can taste all of the ingredients in it. It is not just a bland slice bread. Add some honey if you desire and make it a honey-white bread. It is delicious just on its own.

Pain de Mie (Bread of Crumb)/ White bread
(adapted from LCB)
- 19 oz whole milk
- 1 1/4 oz FRESH yeast
- 1 1/4 oz sugar
- 4 3/4 oz butter, softened
- 1 oz salt
~ 2 lbs bread flour [AP works fine too]

You will need:
2- 1 lb loaf pans or 1 3 lb loaf pan
scale

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, pour the milk, yeast and sugar, dissolve it.  Break the softened butter up into little pieces and dissolve it as much as possible. [it will eventually melt into the dough as its being worked]

Sprinkle a small amount of the flour over the top, add the salt and mix. Keep adding flour until it becomes a thick cake batter like consistency. Switch to the dough hook, and add more flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

I like to knead by hand, so knead and knead in more flour if necessary until a gluten window is developed, around 10 minutes.

Tip* for knowing if you have added enough flour [since it is  the variable in the recipe], make a triangle shape with your fingers in the dough, if the triangle stays, there is enough flour.

Round the dough and put it in a greased bowl, cover, and let it proof until doubled in size [about an hour]. Check it by inserting your finger in the side, if the indent stays, it has proofed enough.

Draw a circle around the dough before, and you'll be able to tell when its doubled

 

Weigh the dough and divide in 2 equal parts. Spray the loaf pans. Line with parchment

Flatten each half of the dough to the width of the loaf pan and then roll up tightly, drop in the loaf pan press inside to fit in pan.

Let doughs proof again, covered until they have reached the top of the pan.

Eggwash, and bake for 45-1 hr, but at 45 minutes check internal temperature of bread. 190F means its done.

Cool the pan on its side, remove bread and finish cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy!