30 May 2018

Une trancheuse à pain...



I made another loaf of sandwich bread. This time it's whole-wheat, or semi-whole-wheat. I used about one-half whole-wheat flour and about one-half all-purpose flour. I put a little bit of molasses in the dough, for color, and some honey, to feed the yeast. I used fresh baker's yeast instead of the dried kind. And instead of softened butter, which French recipes for pain de mie include, I put in a tablespoon or two of sunflower oil in the dough. It all worked and the bread is good.



I recently ordered a "bread slicer" from Amazon France (amazon.fr). It arrived yesterday. Cutting even slices off a loaf of sandwich bread or a loaf cake is not easy. Actually, "bread slicer" is a misnomer. It's not that but a knife guide. It's very simple, and the one I ordered is made of fairly flimsy plastic, but it works and it cost only about five dollars. If I end up using it a lot, I can always get a better one made out of something sturdier like wood. Look at this selection on Amazon in the U.S.


The reason for all this bread-baking is that our village baker recently canceled his home delivery service. For 10 years or more, our "bread lady" (porteuse de pain) would drive up our road in her "little white van" and toot the horn to announce her arrival. We'd go out to the front gate and buy bread from her. No pre-ordering was required. She carried baguettes, other breads, croissants, and even butter, cheese, milk, and other grocery supplies for people who have a hard time getting to the supermarket or to village shops.



Also, I wanted some good sandwich bread. Not the "industrial" supermarket stuff, which is not all that good. I had memories of boulangeries in Paris and other places where you could buy what is called pain de mie — soft loaves of sandwich bread. It turned out that only one bakery in Saint-Aignan made such bread on a regular basis, and that baker made pain de mie only on Saturday mornings, for weekend customers.



I went back to that bakery this past Saturday morning at about 8:45 a.m. and asked if they had any pain de mie to sell. The young clerk said no, we don't make that. I told him I had been informed back in April that the baker made pain de mie on Saturdays but that I'd need to come in early because the loaves were usually sold out pretty fast. The clerk said yes, that was true, but the baker no longer makes pain de mie. So I ordered myself a nice metal, non-stick loaf pan and started making bread. Now I have a slicer too.

10 comments:

  1. That gadget is a wonderful idea and I'm pleased to hear it actually works. I might just buy one for myself. Love the continuing bread saga!

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    1. Thanks for telling me. I shall see how much I really use the "bread slicer gadget" before I spend good money for a sturdier one.

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  2. Excellent. The wooden versions do look nice. James Beard always spoke about 'crumb' when evaluating a loaf of bread...no doubt he'd give yours 5 stars.

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  3. In French, "crumb" is mie, so these are loaves of "crumb bread" in James Beard terms. Pain de mie is a "loaf of crumb" and thus is bread where the crust isn't important or even present. That's very different from French bread, where the crust is crucial. And never worry — we still eat plenty of that too.

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  4. Glad you haven't given up French bread all together! I can't imagine that happening. I like the looks of this pain de mie and the cutter gadget.

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    1. Making "crumb loaves" is as much for the fun of it as anything else. The toast is good for breakfast, though, and with pimento cheese or pâté, the sliced bread is good too. These days, we buy three or four baguettes every week and keep them, cut up, in the freezer. They thaw fast in the oven or toaster oven.

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  5. I'll bet your house smells heavenly, with so much bread baking going on. This loaf looks great, and having that cutting guide is super helpful, I'm sure!

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    1. Pain de mie is a dense bread that makes good sandwiches, croque-monsieur, etc.

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  6. I have one of the fancier bamboo ones from Amazon, and I don't really like it. It wobbles and I have to awkwardly hold it together, and the bread at the same time, as I slice. I ordered a cheaper plastic one I like better https://www.amazon.com/Eon-Concepts-Slicer-Homemade-Machine/dp/B0793HQWL7/ref=sr_1_7?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1527734215&sr=1-7&keywords=bread+slicer&dpID=41wFqEDsutL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch. I haven't seen one like yours on the US Amazon site. I'll have to look for it.

    I also use a pan very like yours that I got there, called a Pullman loaf pan. I love it and use it with the no-knead bread recipe that is my favorite.

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    1. I see several slicing guides like the one I bought on this Amazon.com page. I can't yet vouch for its quality or utility, because I've just barely used it. Thanks for the warning about the solid-looking wood or bamboo guides.

      Here's your link above in live clickable form.

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