Lars -- I have two Pullman pans and I used any number of enriched bread recipes in them as long as I weighed the amount of dough I put in the pans to equal the amount suitable for each loaf. The small pan I have is designed to make about a 1-pound loaf (a recipe calling for about 3-3-1/4 c. of flour) and the large Pullman pan is designed to make about a 2-pound loaf (or a recipe calling for about 4-5 cups of flour), so follow the amount of flour and weight of the dough, and you should be fine.

The bread made in a Pullman pan is intended to have a very close-grained texture so you can easily slice it into thin slices, so enriching ingredients like milk and butter work well. Recipes that include potato or potato water will also work in a Pullman pan if you want to reduce the amount of milk.

I even used 100% white whole wheat flour breads in them. By baking 100% whole wheat bread in a Pullman pan, the loaf is not very dark due to using white wheat flour, and the shape of the loaf was a way to "trick" people into not realizing it was a loaf of homemade bread. And yes, there are people who think homemade bread is "icky". I often made a large Pullman pan loaf when we had weekend guests. I went many years without purchasing commercial loaves of bread thanks to my Pullman pans.

I wouldn't increase the amount of yeast just because you are using whole wheat flour. Don't go by the amount of time the loaf needs to rise before placing the lid on it in the recipe, set a timer for 10-minutes or so less than the time suggested for placing the lid on and check the dough at that time to see when it reaches just below the lip of the pan. Dough will raise according to the moisture in the loaf, the age of the yeast, and the ambient temperature and moisture level - it can't tell time - EVER! You really need to stay on top of this time in the developing loaf - so check early and often, especially if you add more yeast. And be sure to initially form a flat dough log so it will eventually fill the pan nicely as a flat, not domed, loaf.

King Arthur TIP: If you make a point to remember which way the lid slides on and off before you put the pan in the oven, you'll save yourself some aggravation of tugging the hot lid the wrong way when it's ready to come off).

Hope that helps you out.... :-)

-Grainlady

Yes, I did forget that the recipe had 3 tbsp of potato starch and 6 Tbsp of butter! I also forgot to bring the recipe with me, but I'll get it this evening.

I only made a somewhat flattened log when I put the dough in the pan - I will flatten it more next time.

The bread does slice thinly very nicely, and I thought the grain of the texture was close enough as it is. I think this pan will work nicely with my rye bread recipe, as that tends to be a bit dense, and the loaf does not fit well in my older bread pans.

I've been putting my bread dough in the garage to rise, as it is about 80 degrees in the garage right now - a bit higher on warmer days - and it rises faster there than it does in the house, as I keep the thermostat at 74 degrees when I am home (78 when I'm out), although our outdoor air temp usually does not get much above 80, if that high. It did get to 86 last January, but it hasn't been hotter than that for the rest of the year so far.

I like the idea of substituting potato water for milk, but this recipe already has potato starch in it.

I had a Pullman loaf pan for two years before I ever used it....reason being the lid would not slide on and off easy... Intended to send back as a lemon and just didn't....so one day was telling my Bill about it...he said let me see it... Took him about 10seconds to tell me it goes on only one way...well Dah......so I marked the ends with an ink marker and have never had anymore trouble...

I use it lots.....

Sometimes we just have stupid times.....

And two years it set in the cabinet......

I did not use the lid on my pan, but I did not have any trouble removing it! Aluminum foil works just as well as the lid, and I think I got that from the Beard on Bread book that I do not like.

I decided to look up Pullman loaf recipes, and the one I used came up first:

2/3 cup (5 3/8 ounces) milk
1 cup (8 ounces) water
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar
1/4 cup (1 1/8 ounces) Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) potato flour
4 3/4 cups (20 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast

I divided up the flour as I listed above to be 2-1/4 cups bread flour, 2-1/4 cups whole wheat, 2 Tbsp semolina, and 2 Tbsp VWG - otherwise I followed the rest of the ingredients except that I increased the yeast, which I will not do again.

I will search for more Pullman loaf recipes - I was unaware that it was a popular way to make bread. This one looks promising.

I made this pain de mie recipe a couple of days ago, but in my recipe file, I had adjusted to recipe to have half whole wheat and half white flour. Since I did not have any whole wheat flour in L.A. (and Bristol Farms did not either), I made it with all white flour, which I did not expect to like. However, it did turn out well and is very good for making sandwiches after it is toasted. Mainly I like it because I can slice it very thinly, which I think is a big plus.

I also make rye bread in my Pullman pan, and I think this is my favorite use for it. I'm thinking I should get an additional Pullman pan, since we use bread mainly for sandwiches, but it also makes good toast for Brie. I did find that I need to cut the toast into third (vertically) after the bread has been toasted instead of before, as the center cut curls in the toaster oven.

Do you have a favorite Pullman loaf recipe? I've gone back to always using the lid on the pan for the past four years.

ETA: I just checked, and I was unable to find a 13" x 4" Pullman pan in stock anywhere, even at King Arthur, where it is $35 instead of $22 elsewhere. I guess I will just have to take my pan with me when I go back and forth. In the meantime, I will bake regular loaves.