Source for Pullman Pans

I have used plain shortening, a mixture of equal parts shortening and all-purpose flour, and various brands of pan spray (to include professional baker's pan spray) to grease my Pullman pans since I purchased the 13" one from KA almost 8 years ago..

All of these methods work well..I have never encountered problems with the loaves sticking in the pan after baking, EXCEPT when baking heavily enriched breads containing large quantities of sugar in the dough; or when the dough contained a lot of dried fruits in it..Dried fruits that have been hydrated before being added to the dough are more prone to sticking than dried fruits that are not soaked..I find the flour grease to be the preferred method of greasing the pan when baking such doughs..

All three of my Pullman bread pans are the bright aluminized steel professional-grade pans..The 13" pan is by Chicago Metallic, and the two 8.5" pans are by a unknown manufacturer that KA refuses to divulge the identity of..

I deliberately stayed away from aluminum Pullman pans when I first decided to purchase one..Having witnessed many steel Pullman pans in a non-usable state in bakeries / restaurants due to the pan's lid being bent until it would no longer slide onto the pan; I rationalized that the lids to the steel pans would hold up better than the aluminum ones, all other factors being equal..In bakeries / restaurants the lids are almost always bent due to bakers / chefs not caring properly for the lids..It does not take much abuse in order to end up with a lid that is hard to install / remove from the pan..In addition, as I found out soon after starting to bake with Pullman bread pans, if the baker allows the dough to rise just a little too much after installing the lid and baking the loaf; the end result when the baker attempts to remove the lid so the top of the loaf can finish browning will be dough that has flowed up, out, and under the rim of the pan to fill the ALL of the crevices between the lid and the pan..When this occurs with a lid that fits PERFECTLY and slides easily on and off of the pan, the end result is a lid that is very difficult to remove..This difficulty can range from approximately twice as hard to remove than a properly proofed and baked loaf; to a lid that is virtually impossible to remove..My worst case was when I had to wear elbow-length oven mitts, place a heavy towel folded over many times in the bend of my elbow up against my chest, and push-pull at the lid-pan with all of the strength in my arms to get the lid to come off..In this single instance I had dough flowing out from under the lid, and partially down the sides of the pan..

My first loaves of bread at the age of 16 werre baked in the bright aluminum bread pans common to so many American households..Within a year I had purchased 6 each of the dark steel 2.5"x4.5"x8.5" one pound, and 6 each of the 3"x5"x9" one and a half pound bread pans that have the handles on each end for easy handling..I needed these pans in order to bake up banana bread for a local fair using up three cases of donated over-ripe bananas..I noticed that I preferred the way the crust turned out from the darker pans compared to the bright aluminum pans..The brighter pans tended to produce a far darker crust, and were prone to overbaking the crust before the centers of the banana bread loaves were done..It was at this point that I stopped using aluminum bread pans, as well as Pyrex glass bread pans for bread baking..

Thanks to everyone that posted for all of the links to other sites regarding Pullman bread pans.

Pullman bread pans are a wonderful addition to any baker's equipment list..They allow one to produce nice, even slices of bread that mimic professional loaves..

Bruce