Choosing the right size pullman pan (Borodinsky)
Hi folks. First post. I don't have much experience making bread, so I thought I'd start with something easy...
My goal is to make a good loaf of sourdough rye. I'd like to get this process down pat and turn it into a weekend ritual. I'm interested in Eastern European and Russian food - and rye is at the heart of that - so I've attempted to scale down Andy's well-known Borodinsky formula [1]. I scaled it down because it would be too much for me. His total is 1935 grams. I'm aiming for about half that - give or take. Andy's formula is for a pullman pan, but it doesn't say what size. Does anyone know?
I turned up what looks like a nice resource [2] with sizing guidelines for pullman pans:
Pullman Pan SizesThe pans come in various sizes depending on what a manufacturer decides to offer.
- Small: 9 x 4 x 4 inches (23 x 10 x 10 cm). Makes a 1.5 pound / 680g loaf (a bread recipe calling for approximately 3 cups / 15 oz / 425g of flour)
- Typical: 13 x 4 x 4 inches (33 x 10 x 10 cm). Makes a 2 pound / 900g loaf (a bread recipe calling for approximately 3 3/4 to 4 cups / 20 oz / 550g of flour. You might be able to fit a 5 cup flour bread recipe in here.)
- Long (16 x 4 x 4 inches / 40 x 10 x 10 cm)
- Long and skinny: (16 x 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches / 40 x 9 x 9 cm)
According to this, 13 x 4 x 4 is just the ticket, but I'm concerned that an 80% rye loaf wouldn't rise to these expectations. If high percentage rye dough won't rise like normal dough, as I've read, how far off are these guidelines?
This [3] Paderno "blue steel" pan looks good to me, but at 11.825 x 4 x 4 it's a little smaller than the Typical recommendation for a ~900 gram loaf. Roughly how much high percentage rye dough would it be appropriate for?
For those who aren't familiar with the term, "blue steel" is what Paderno calls its carbon steel, which needs to be seasoned just like cast iron - only more so. That's why the reviewers are so angry that the pan is flaking and rusting after a few uses. They don't know what they've bought.
Thanks for your attention. This forum is dense!