Baking whole wheat sourdough bread in a Pullman pan

This post and accompanying video explain everything I learned about baking freshly milled whole grain sourdough bread (whole wheat in this case) in Pullman pans.

I did over six trials before I settled on this recipe. I’m glad I persisted though, because what I learned was illuminating not only for Pullman pan baking, but for baking in bread tins in general.

Below is the video where I demonstrate and discuss the recipe and my insights learned. Underneath that is the full recipe and my learnings summarised in writing.

Here are my favourite book and equipment lists if you’d like to explore purchasing one of these Pullman pans for yourself (maybe read the full post first though!).

Storefront Australia https://www.amazon.com.au/shop/ellyseverydaysoapmaking
Storefront USA https://www.amazon.com/shop/ellyseverydaysoapmaking
These are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

While you’re here, you might also want to check out these two videos that were precursors to this one about Pullman pans. It’s been quite a fun journey!

Video: My favourite bread pans for wholegrain sourdough baking

Video: Make bread recipes to fit your pans perfectly!

The Recipe - Pullman Pan Whole Wheat Sourdough Loaf

INGREDIENTS:

• 700g whole wheat flour
  Use unsifted and freshly milled hard red or hard white wheat flour if you have access to a mill. (Find out about my Mockmill here). Store bought flour is ok though! Just look for a stoneground, whole wheat flour that is suitable for baking bread, and be prepared to adjust the water amount slightly as results can vary between flours due to regional, varietal and seasonal differences.

  This flour amount (700g) works great with my 9 x 4 x 4 inch (23 x 10 x 10cm) Pullman pan. If you have a different sized pan, use this method to work out the correct flour amount for your pan (these flat lidded Pullman style pans generally need about 30% flour of the total pan capacity).

• 12g salt
  I use iodised table salt in my bread baking. Any fine or table style salt is great.

• 2 tbsp / 20g ground linseed
  This is completely optional but I love adding it to my sourdough loaves for its slight binding effect and omega 3 fatty acids. More about gel binding in whole grain sourdough baking here.

• 525g water (75% hydration)
  Use cold water if your flour is milled immediately before mixing the dough.

  In the video I showed two loaves. The first one (where I demonstrated the mixing) was made with 600g water, but I think that was too much! A later bake (the loaf shown at the end of the video) was made with 525g water, which I think was a more appropriate amount for my flour. I discuss this further in the ‘insights’ section below.

• 100g sourdough starter
  This is equivalent to about half a cup of starter that’s been fed with equal amounts of water and flour. It’s roughly half a cup’s worth (it doesn’t need to be that precise). I use my starter straight from the fridge. This video has more on that topic.

  
  And that’s it! Bread making is simple. All you need are flour, water and salt :)

METHOD:

1. If using whole wheat grain, weigh 700g of grain and mill as finely as possible into a large mixing bowl. If using pre-milled flour, weigh that into the bowl using a digital scale. If you don’t have a scale, use the conversion charts on this page to help you find the correct volume/cup measures for this recipe.

2. Add salt and ground linseed to the flour, if using, and mix thoroughly.

3. Add water and sourdough starter (you can mix them together first if you like, either way is ok) and mix the dough thoroughly until combined. At this point you can mix the dough with an electric mixer for 5-10 minutes, until it becomes smooth and strong (check out the video demonstration) or alternatively, you can do a series of stretch and folds every 30 minutes for the first few hours of dough fermentation.

4. Ferment the dough for anywhere between 3-4 hours in summertime, up to 8-10 hours in cooler conditions. The speed of sourdough fermentation is largely dependent on temperature! The Ideal fermentation temperature for sourdough bread is cooler than you might think, around 18-22°C / 65-72°F, but if your weather is much warmer than that, follow these tips to prevent overfermentation.

5. Once the dough is looking visibly risen and bubbly under the surface (pull some up to see), grease your pan and the inside of the pan lid, shape the dough into a log shape (see video demo) and place it gently into the pan, closing the lid to prevent the dough from drying out as it proofs.

6. Proof the dough for as long as it takes to rise about 1-2cm or one inch in the pan. This may take 30 minutes in warm conditions, or up to 2 hours in cooler weather. The length of proof also depends on the extent of fermentation of the dough - the more advanced the initial fermentation was, the faster the final proof will be. Again, see the video demonstration for help judging this.

7. When the dough looks almost ready to bake, preheat your oven to 220°C / 430°F.

8. Bake the bread, lid on, for 20 minutes at 220°C / 430°F, then (if you can remember) turn the oven down to 200°C / 390°F for the final 20 minutes. This prevents the crust from burning. Leave the lid on the tin for the entire baking time.

9. Optional extra (one of my key learnings!). Once the baking is done, remove the loaf from the pan and place it back into the oven for a further 5-10 minutes. This will give your loaf a more full shape and will prevent the sides from having a caved in appearance, which is common for loaves baked in these pans.

Key Learnings for Pullman pans!

I discussed this in the video, but here is a summary of the insights I gained through learning to bake whole grain sourdough bread in Pullman pans.

1. Use lower hydration
   It is preferable to use less water in recipes baked in Pullman pans. The common instruction I’ve seen in many books over the years is that you can use more water in tinned bread recipes than you can with free form loaves, but my experience with these Pullman pans leads me to reconsider this rule!

   Because these pans are enclosed on every side, the baking bread has no room for expansion, and because it cannot freely expand, nor can it expel excess moisture as it bakes. Somewhere around 70-80% hydration is a good amount for pullman pan whole grain sourdough loaves, though I would be the last one to stop you from conducting your own experiments! Each flour will perform differently as well, so not all bakes will be the same.
   

2. Choose the right dough amount
   Because these pans restrict dough movement beyond the four sides of the pan, it takes some time and practice to work out the correct dough volume that works with your own baking techniques with these pans. For my style of baking, with my wheat flours, I found that about 700g flour with 75-80% hydration was ideal. This allows the bread to rise up and fill the pan almost completely, but also allows for the maximum internal expansion and the lightest possible crumb. Too much dough will result in a dense, more restricted loaf. Too little dough will give a smaller loaf that does not completely fill the pan. A little experimentation and finessing of the recipe with your own flours and your own context is required.
   

3. Use varied baking temperatures
   I found it hard not to burn the crust of my loaves in these pans, but found a much better result by starting the bake with a higher temperature, then turning it down for the final half of the bake. Normally I prefer not to do this, because I like simple, less fiddly approaches generally speaking, but it does make a big difference to the finished quality and look of these loaves.
   

4. Finish the bake with extra time out of the tin
   This is perhaps the best lesson I learned! My bread baked in these tins turned out SO much better when I put the loaf back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes after removing it from the tin. This allows the loaf that was previously quite restricted (due to the closed in tin) to fill out a bit more, giving you a more full shape with less chance of caved in sides.

And that’s a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this post and video and found them helpful.

If you’d like to support me continuing to produce these resources, you can do that here 🌻

Good luck everyone, and have fun with your bread recipes!

Please leave any comments and questions in the section below and I’ll get back to you asap.

Elly

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