pain de mie - pullman loaf for traditional tea sandwiches

Hello,

Does anyone know where to find pain de mie or unsliced pullman loaves?

I'm happy to travel a bit, but was hoping for something good in between the south loop & northern burbs.

I'm gathering supplies for a small traditional tea, so please feel free to add favorite sources for other components as well - scones, pastries, jams, clotted cream, etc.

Thanks!

Hi,

My Mom once made a sandwich loaf for a bridal shower. She ordered bread unsliced from a bakery. She actually went one step further: she asked for the bread to be dyed green. Making a cream cheese decorated sandwich loaf was very ambitious project. Unfortunately the green bread looked like moldy bread, which was a turn-off for some people.

I have seen perfectly squared off loaves at Hippo Bakery at Mitsuwa Japanese Market in Arlington Heights. I just checked an image of a Pullman loaf to verify it is what you want.

Regards,

I have been unable to find a Pullman loaf and would love to hear of any sources people are aware of.

The sliced loaves at Hippo do not have the somewhat firm quality of a Pullman loaf, but make a reasonable substitute.
The slices are a little thick, but the finished sandwiches end up being excellent for a traditional tea.

Another good option is the thin sliced Pepperidge Farm bread. This bread, in my opinion, is perfect for tea sandwiches.

Jyoti

jygach wrote:Another good option is the thin sliced Pepperidge Farm bread. This bread, in my opinion, is perfect for tea sandwiches.

This is the substitution I've made in the past as well, when I got roped into making tea sandwiches for a bridal shower that my wife was organizing, and struck out on finding Pullman loaf in Chicago. The thin-sliced Pepperidge Farm sandwich bread shares the flat-topped shape of Pullman loaf, and is significantly easier to find...I bought it from the Jewel at Clark & Division.

I'm no tea-sandwich expert, but I recently made what I thought were good ones with the baked-daily, unsliced, squared-off white bread loaf at Beograd.

The cafe I work at orders our pan de mie from LaBriola Bakery and we are very happy with the quality. I'm sure you could pick up a loaf at their retail outlet or you are welcome to call and place an order at the cafe and we could order a loaf for you if you don't want to drive out to Oak Brook.

La Briola Cafe
3021 Butterfield Road, Oak Brook, (630) 574-2008, labriolabaking.com

Cafe Selmarie
4729 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago 773-989-5595 www.cafeselmarie.com

I've always enjoyed Sel Marie's version as cited above. Haven't had the others.

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

I've ordered a loaf from Sel Marie. They were very nice over the phone and will have it for me tomorrow.

I called around a bit and here's what a few other places had to say when I asked for pain de mie - pan de miga - pullman loaf - or white bread for tea/finger sandwiches:

Red Hen Bread - only available commercially - they don't sell it retail
Bennison's Bakery - white sandwich bread (closest to a pain de mie that they make) can be sold unsliced
Deerfields Bakery - white sandwich bread - can be sold unsliced (order 2-days in advance)
Fox & Obel - they offered a sliced brioche loaf
Ritz Tango Cafe - they bring it in from out-of-state (you can call ahead to order sandwiches de miga - Argentine tea sandwiches)

I've used the thin sliced Pepperidge Farm bread before, but was looking for a better option. I may do a side-by-side comparison to see if it's worth the extra effort to get fresh bread.

mmm wrote:I've used the thin sliced Pepperidge Farm bread before, but was looking for a better option. I may do a side-by-side comparison to see if it's worth the extra effort to get fresh bread.

This is a terrific idea. I look forward to the results.

Regards,

I did a side-by-side, and found that the fresh bread version was much better, but only for about the first 30 minutes. The sliced fresh bread dried out much more quickly than the PF. So, if you don't plan to serve them right away, the preservative-laden PF is probably better. If you do use fresh bread, it is a good idea to put a piece of wax paper and then a damp kitchen towel on top of it right up until you serve the sandwiches.

In reading this, I wonder how well Jamaican Hardo bread would do at this job? It's lightly sweet, but not really moreso than Pepperidge Farms. It's got a dense, tender crumb that should do well with tea sandwiches, and it's rectangular - and as some of the texture comes from fat, it should be less likely to dry out. I made my own the last time I had it, but Caribbean-American bakery on Howard sells it - I bet you could get it unsliced if you asked them.

Hi,

The caterer who prepared tea for several events, always has her tea sandwiches under plastic wrap up to serving time. This is a good idea to borrow.

Regards,

I was actually doing the same search last week and ended up making my own last Friday using this recipe.

It turned out great - and very rich from all the butter & milk, so it was really good for the summer pudding I was making. I used potato water for the water, and it still hadn't gone stale when I made the last of it into breadcrumbs on Wednesday.

Follow-up on pain de mie for tea sandwiches:

I used an unsliced pain de mie from LaBriola (purchased from Cafe Selmarie – call ahead to order) and the Pepperidge Farm extra thin sliced wheat bread for some color contrast. Everyone agreed that the two should never be served side-by-side - the pain de mie made for much better sandwiches. No contest.

While I would have liked the pain de mie to be a little denser, it was sturdy, springy, and very tasty. I’ll keep an eye out for more options but won’t hesitate to use this bread again. The loaf was not the traditional shape I was expecting (looked more like a mushroom with a large rectangular base), but it worked fine. I trimmed the crusts, cut the loaf into thin planks, and topped with ingredients before cutting the sandwiches into their final shapes.

While assembling, and before serving, I kept the bread/sandwiches constantly covered with a barely damp kitchen towel. I prepared individual plates with a selection of each sandwich & one serving plate with additional sandwiches. The rest I kept in the kitchen, under the towel and refreshed the serving plate as needed. The bread didn’t dry out.

Other notes on the tea:
I made a version of clotted cream by slowly reducing Blue Marble cream in a heavy double boiler, let it sit at room temp for a couple of hours, and refrigerated overnight – it was delicious! Blue Marble is an excellent Wisconsin dairy (I’ve seen their products at Green City Market and Green Grocer Chicago).

Also used some of the ‘looser’ clotted cream in making the scones (orange/raisin) – wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t already have the cream on hand, but they turned out great.

Naked toffee (not chocolate covered) from Terry’s Toffee - the lemon flavor was excellent; pastries from Selmarie (I was already there for the bread…); and chocolate covered strawberries rounded out the sweet stuff.

For the sandwiches, I tried to stick to seasonal/traditional flavors – watercress, chive, radish, asparagus, olives, cucumber, …. Using farm-fresh, pastured eggs made the egg salad a real standout.

Teas were favorites from around the world. Jams: tart berry medley, raspberry, and lemon. ‘Flowers’ were green & purple asparagus in the glass cream bottle - very cute. Unfortunately, we had to skip the champagne this time – but definitely a great thing to have at a spring tea.

Thanks again for the help sourcing the bread – it made a huge difference!


Café Selmarie - 4729 N Lincoln Ave Chicago, IL 60625 - (773) 989-5595
Blue Marble - http://www.bluemarblefamilyfarm.com
Green Grocer Chicago – 1402 W Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60642 (312) 624-9508
Green City Market - South end of Lincoln Park between Clark and Stockton Drive, Wednesday & Saturday
Terry’s Toffee - 1117 W Grand Ave Chicago, IL 60642 - (312) 733-2700

I am helping prepare a Tea at my church later this month and found out that Tags Bakery in Evanston carries the Pullman loaves in both white and wheat. They need a couple of days to prepare them, but when I stopped by last week they had one in the freezer so I could see its size.