Learn To Cook! How to make Pain de mie, or Homemade Bread

When I was in graduate school, I decided to learn how to bake my own homemade bread. I was looking for a good, rich bread that would not last for long once it came out of the oven.

I found a book by Julia Child and decided that her "Pain de mie" was the perfect recipe.

I carefully followed each step and, not having a fancy mixer, kneaded the bread by hand. I formed each loaf and popped them into the oven.

Out came the most wondrous thing: perfectly done bread that my friends and roommate hogged down within minutes!

Over the years, I tweaked the recipe to make the bread richer, a bit sweeter and to die for.

This bread freezes well, can be made into loaves or "Baps", which are large, fat rolls for for sandwiches, burgers, or just toasting and enjoying with coffee or tea for breakfast.

And now, the recipe and its secrets will be shared with you!

Use Bread flour if you desire, but all purpose flour is fine.

3 1/2 cups flour

1 package active dry yeast

1 1/3 cups tepid (about 105° F) milk OR 1/3 cup evaporated milk and 1 cup of one 1 percent milk

1/2 stick (2 oz) real butter, softened

1 to 2 tsp salt

2 tblsp sugar

1 tsp sugar

A solid stand mixer with dough hooks OR some very strong hands and arms!

Baking pans: Two 9 inch loaf pans or one large flat baking pan for rolls

A board or large, clean surface for working with the dough

Clean kitchen towels or paper towels

Plenty of hot soap and water.

The dry, fast rising yeast is great. Buy two packages that come from different lots. This will ensure that, if one lot is bad, the other one will be good!

In a 1 cup bowl, add 2 tsp tepid (105° F) water and 1 tsp sugar

Add the yeast and stir well

Watch the yeast go crazy after about 10 minutes!

ALWAYS: After handling dough and yeast, wash hands in the hottest soapy water possible. Make sure to get under the nails.

It is a myth that baker's yeast is the same stuff that causes yeast infections in humans. It is the opportunistic and parasitic pathogens like Candida Albicans that cause yeast infections in humans.

There is no such danger from Baker's and brewer's yeasts, which are microscopic fungi from the Saccharomycetacae family. These beneficial fungi convert carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide for our bread and our beer!

"Rope" is a mold or bacterial growth that may come from milk or improperly cleaned equipment. Rope will alter the character, smell and taste of the dough, so this is why we clean the equipment and heat the milk.

The Milk:

Simply heat the milk until a skim appears on the surface. Then cool it down until it is just warm to the touch.

The Equipment:

Wash the mixing bowl, dough hooks, and other equipment in the dishwasher or with hot, soapy water, then rinse well with hot water. That's all that it takes!

Put the flour, salt and 2 tblsp sugar into the mixing bowl.

Add the puffy yeast, using a spatula to get as much as possible into the mix

Add the tepid milk

If using a mixer, mix for 3-6 minutes, lifting up from the bottom and rolling the dough over and over.

After about 3 minutes, the dough will become sticky.

The dough will roll itself into a big, shiny ball and will be nice nice.

Allow the dough to rest for 1 minute

Add 1/3 of the butter and mix it in.

Smoosh, pat, spread...this is work!

Add another 1/3 and do the same

Add the final 1/3 and finish mixing in all of the butter.

The dough is now shiny, glossy, sticks itself together into a smooth ball, and is nicer than nice.

I am a perfectionist and insist on two risings for a good yeast distribution and a perfect crumb.

The first rising is easy!

Remove the dough from the bowl and put into a clean bowl. Mark where the top of the dough sits in the bowl.

Cover with a clean towel and put in a warm (not hot) part of the kitchen.

Allow to rise for about 45 minutes. With rapid rising yeast, the dough should double in size.

Prepare a large board or a large, clean surface.

Have 2 cups of "bench" or surface flour ready. Spread some liberally on the surface.

Put the dough ball on the surface and "punch it down".

Allow the dough to rest for 1 minute

Knead the dough this way:

Make a large, flat square

Fold in half from left to right, pressing out any air bubbles as you go

Turn the dough one quarter to the right

Fold in half from left to right, pressing out any air bubbles as you go

Repeat two more times and allow to rest for one minute.

For Loaves: (9 inch long greased bread pan)

Take 1/2 of the dough and knead into a strip that is three times as long as a 9 inch bread pan

Fold the right third until the end sits in the middle of the strip, pressing out air bubbles as you go.

Fold the left third until the end meets the other end, pressing out air bubbles as you go.

Put the loaf into the baking pan and press until it has a nice shape and fills the pan.

Note where the dough is. It will need to double in size.

For Baps (Large, greased baking sheet or greased cake pans)

The same procedures apply. Make strips three times as long as the bun or roll will be and fold the ends toward the middle, pressing out any air bubbles.

The final move is to give the rolls or buns a nice round top by holding in the palms of both hands and gently rolling the top into shape.

Put the finished roll or Bap onto the baking sheet and note the size.

Allow the dough to rise for another 45 minutes until double in size.

For Freezing: After forming the baps or loaves, wrap them well in plastic wrap. Pop them into the freezer.

When ready to bake: The frozen dough has to thaw first, then rise a little. This can take up to two or three hours, depending on the size of the loaf.

Baps are good for slicing. They make wonderful sandwiches, especially with a classic burger.

Notice the nice clean crumb in the photo. There are no air bubbles or major internal deformities.

The bread can be in the form of dinner rolls, fancier rolls like cloverleafs, and many styles of sweeter or fruity bread.

Once this recipe is accomplished, it is easy to wrap a batch of Baps or a few loaves for the freezer in the pitiful hope that the beautiful pain di mie will last for a while!

Now a person can spend the rest of their life refining their baking techniques, using special tools and buying expensive ovens.

This bread will bake just fine in a preheated 425 degree oven. If you do not know how your oven heats, buy a basic oven thermometer and let it tell you if the temperature is right.

If this is your first time baking bread, make a test roll and bake it. See how it comes out.

Put the bread in the lower middle level of the oven.

You can cover the bread and rolls with foil if you want to. Then remove the foil and bake for about 5 minutes more to get a deeper brown on the top.

For a 9 inch loaf, the baking time is about 35 minutes. Check after 25 minutes, then keep a close eye on the loaves.

For a 6 inch BAP, figure about 18 to 20 minutes, adding time as required.

For 3 inch rolls, figure about 10 to 12 minutes.

Immediately after removing the bread, brush the tops with butter. This will make the tops shiny, soft and beautiful.

If the crust is too dark and thick for your taste, the oven is too hot.

If there are big air bubbles, then press the bubbles out more carefully when kneading and forming the bread.

If the bread is too pale or did not cook thoroughly in the expected time, the oven is not hot enough.