Category: Pastry

Pullman is a Place, Too

Oh yes it is, and thanks for pointing that out Chicago Joe, if that IS your real name. I mentioned below that Pullman’s factory was located south of Chicago. In 1880 that was true, when Chicago’ population was half a million people. Today Pullman is a neighborhood of Chicago, way down south, off the Bishop Ford Expressway at about 103rd Street. Once it was a rural industrial outpost, built by a man who — like many others of his day — hoped to create a utopia but ended up creating, well, just another place on Earth.

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What is a Pullman Car?

No one asked that question, but that’s not going to stop me from diving straight in, since the history of Pullman rail cars is simply too interesting. Plus it takes me right back to my ol’ home town: Chicago. And I haven’t been back there in what…a week?

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Why do they call it a “Pullman” pan?

I thought you’d never ask, reader Ellie! It’s called a “Pullman” pan because here in the States these square, crustless loaves were most often associated with the legendary Pullman rail cars. Not only did the soft, perfectly shaped slices match the Pullman company’s elegant style, the stackable loaves were great for dining car kitchens where […]

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So what’s a Pullman pan?

It’s nothing more than a straight-sided loaf pan with a lid on it. It yields a loaf of bread with perfectly flat sides all the way around and perfectly square corners. What good is that you say? Well granted it’s an aesthetic thing mostly. A perfectly square loaf — as seen from the ends — yields perfectly square pieces of sandwich bread and pieces of toast. That’s great for us uptight types who like our foods neat.

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Next Up: Adventures with a Pullman Pan

Oh yes, mine needs a workout, kids. And some nice soul-baking will be a breath of fresh air after so much fussing with cannelés (though as I said, that project is continuing). We’ll do some pain de mie, sausage in brioche…who knows what I’ll get up to. Because comfort, friends, is what I need.

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More from the Not-Rock Scene

Last week’s post about acoustic music (Colombia’s Monsieur Periné and the American Texas swing trio Hot Club of Cowtown) was well received, and in fact several readers wrote in asking for more recommendations on contemporary acoustic, non-rock ensembles. Exciting alternatives to alternative rock and pop music abound these days, especially and including Mumford & Sons, whose modern-day sea chanties have taken the alternative rock scene by, er, storm. Red Baraat, a Brooklyn-based pan-Asian, acoustic funk band

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So what are we learning here?

Quite a bit I think. On the one hand I’m learning what I like and I don’t like in a cannelé. On the other I’m learning what a cannelé actually is. It’s not a “cake” as it’s often described. Rather it’s either a very eggy candy or a very, very sweet custard. I lean toward the latter interpretation, as it explains why so many of my attempts before I tried the Malgieri recipe look and taste like broken, collapsed, syrupy custard pie. It also explains why the Malgieri version, which includes an egg tempering step, produces a cannelé with a consistent interior texture.

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It’s Malgieri to the Rescue!

Well now this is more like it! These don’t have the shiny finish I want and I didn’t take photos of the process, so I’ll need to do another batch…which might take me a couple of days now that I think about it. But heck, I can always move on to another topic in the meantime. Suffice to say…thanks, Nick! That formula is a winner…and not difficult to do.

Oh man I need a drink. This has been a long week!

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Cannelés Attempt 3

I had higher hopes for the Hermé recipe I have to say. I wasn’t expecting perfection by any means, just something a little closer to the open crumb that I’m after. I do wonder if differences in the base ingredients aren’t part of the explanation, particularly the flour. As I’ve noted many times in this space, European gluten is plastic while ours is elastic. That elasticity might explain some of the spring-back I’ve gotten the last couple of tries. Anyway, it’s funny that my first attempt is the best of the bunch so far, but there are more coming today. Let’s see how the Malgieri recipe bakes up. They’re in the oven now!

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