Today, we made a pain de mie in a Pullman pan...which are just fancy words for bread in a sandwich loaf. Chef True taught us that Pullman pans were called that because the pans looked like the old Pullman train box cars. Then, he gave a nostalgic look around the room and wondered if any of us kids had ever ridden such a train, as though he had done so all his life. The guy can't be more than 35! So, we made these in groups, and James and I worked on this together. It was a lot of fun. Even though I'm not a great baker, I really have been enjoying making doughs and breads and exploring a side of cooking I've done so little of before. So the crumb of the bread, or consistency inside, is like a soft, chewy french bread. This is going to make some very good sandwiches in the next few days. Chef A said our crumb could have been a little more dense, as our holes were large and small, just like a french bread. She said a pain de mie should have a fine crumb, and I think she said we may have either overproofed it or underkneaded it...I can't remember which.
Today, we also finished our pizza dough, which we started yesterday and let ferment overnight. I was worried when I saw that my dough had not really grown since yesterday, as though I'd forgotten to add yeast...but that's impossible. In any event, I was still able to roll it out to a workable size and I think it tasted great. I was able to get my pepperoni and sausage pizza into the deck oven so I think the crust came out a little better. The tomato and basil, I did in the Gemini, and you can definitely see the difference in the crust. I even olive oiled the crust on that one, and it didn't not crisp as much. In both cases, I should have added a lot more mozarella, I think...or maybe not, I don't know. We weren't critiqued on these, but they sure were fun to make! Tomorrow: brioche!
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