What's in the box?!
This is one of my favorite new kitchen acquisitions: a stainless steel Pullman loaf pan. It's basically a loaf pan with a lid. Dough is placed in the pan for its second rise, then put directly into the oven. The lid squeezes the dough into a perfect brick shape, so that the resulting bread is perfectly symmetrical instead of rounded on top. Given the shape of the pan, it was obvious to me what my first project had to be: Chinese toast.
Fans of Chinese bakeries are familiar with their particular style of white toast: a thin golden crust and an especially tender, airy interior. The loaf hasn't cooled enough for me to safely slice it, but judging from the smells in my kitchen and a few hollow-soundin taps against the top of the bread, I'm on my way to toast heaven.
Voila! The loaf of bread, released from its pan. Interior shots and a recipe will follow!
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9 comments:
COOL!
Mystery solved... always wondered why Chinese bread is so, well, square. Yours came out so perfectly golden! When I was in home ec in middle school, my bread came out black -- it's a special loaf of bread. Smokey was the flavor :-P
-- C
Blame the oven. Always blame the oven. Remember, it's not your fault.
where can I get a pan like that in the SF Bay Area?
Look for a Pullman Pan or a Pullman Loaf Pan. I believe you can get one on Amazon or at Sur La Table, but it'll probably be on the expensive side. I've seen them for $25-35, which is why I never got one. This one came from Taiwan and was closer to $12.
I'm glad you called this "toast" because I also call it "toast" and VB says it's not "toast" until it's actually toasted. I'm calling this one "a Chinese thing".
It is a Chinese thing, because the words for "sliced bread" and "toast" are the same in Chinese.
But I stand by my usage, because this entire loaf is destined for toast-dom. This type of bread is best toasted, rather than eaten cold or used for sandwiches. I would never call a loaf of Oroweat "toast."
This looks good! Is it easy to make?
I'll post a recipe within the next week, but it's basically the same as any basic bread, plus one extra step. So if you've baked bread before and don't mind how time intensive it is, this won't be hard.
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