Since there are already two threads devoted to the upcoming U.S. holiday, the Holiday Planning and the Thanksgiving Recipe Exchange, I’m not going to bother with another.

This week I’m asking you to show us your bread! (or any other baked goods really)

I think the pandemic sourdough craze has kind of run its course among people who otherwise wouldn’t have made sourdough anyway, perhaps it’s become a new part of your repertoire. We’ve never made sourdough but have always had a couple different bread, roll, muffin, etc. recipes we do on the regular and the past couple weeks I’ve managed to work our Pullman loaf pan into the rotation.

One sleepless night while my head was like a snow globe I actually had a useful thought that I was able to remember in the morning- if our bread machine pan is the same size as the Pullman pan the machine’s standard recipe should work to fill the pan just right.

So the following morning I filled the machine’s pan with water and then poured it into the Pullman pan and sure enough, they were roughly equal! I started out using the recipe on the machine for a 2 pound loaf and it came out better than I could’ve hoped. I did use the machine for the “dough” cycle which brought me up to the shaping and proofing stage. I looked up a few Pullman recipes to get an idea for time and temperature, settled on 400° and a note to check the loaf at 30 minutes.

After punching the dough down I did a couple folds and then put it into the lightly oiled pan to proof for 30-45 minutes while the oven preheated. After proofing the dough had risen to fill about 85% of the pan and I knew I was on to something, into the oven it went. At the 30 minute mark I took it out and pulled back the lid to reveal a loaf that had completely filled the pan. I used an instant read thermometer to check the temperature, recipes all gave a finished temp of 185-210, and it was right in the ballpark. I gave it about a 10 minute rest in the pan and then it came right out onto the cooling rack. This bread was what we’d hoped for when we bought the Pullman pan and by using the bread machine for the mix/knead/rise it’s practically hands-off. We’re never buying sandwich bread from the store again.