USA Pan Pullman Loaf Pan, 9 x 4 x 4, Aluminized Steel

I've always wondered how French bakeries got their Pan de Mie so square, voila! This is the pan to use. I am very delighted to have discovered this. Now to find a good white bread recipe for a dense and slightly sweet bread.

Photos show old style and new style results. Sourdough rye pecan bread.In the past life, to get taller bread, my old silicone-in-steel bread pans needed specially cut 4" wide parchment paper with vertical sticks to hold the paper up as dough rose, then an elaborate overnight tent of damp towels covering the whole shebang. All that on a baking sheet took up a whole shelf in the fridge until next AM. Inconvenient.With these Pullman pans, I pour in the sticky dough, close the lids, and store them easily in the fridge. So Much Easier! So much faster. And moister.And my recipe rose another 3/4" - to the top of the pans. On baking, they gave up a half inch, but still tall. The almost vertical ends will not need to be trimmed off and lost for sandwiches. Even with my really stickey dough, my bread released right away after baking.With lids on during baking, my pecans and sunflower seeds do not get burnt. I took the lids of for last 8 minutes for browning. Taking advice of the manufacturer, I dropped baking temp from 425°F to 395°F. Cooking time was similar to prior - 42 min.I haven't sliced the new bread yet for final confirmationCon: the square look is less charming than with the difficult old system irregular rounded top. If I want a rounded top, I could reduce the recipe so it would not rise to the top and flatten against the lid

These pullman pans arrived in pretty good shape; one lid arrived with small dent that doesn't influence performance in any way. I wasn't sure I'd need two; but when I make yeasted bread, it's usually two loaves. I've made several of my tried and true recipes so I could compare to the also expensive gold t. pans from you know where that I love but that are sometimes just a bit too small.I am smitten with straight sided loaves, and these pans turn out razor sharp corners! Some people get cranky about folded-corner pans because they don't want to spend time on cleaning. If that's you, get over yourself :) and take five seconds to run a wooden toothpick along the interior folds (of ALL of your baking pans). These are truly a breeze to clean. The rolled top edges are very tight so allow plenty of drying time tipping them in ways that'll encourage water to run out.Mostly I don't think they need greasing except for a sticky quick bread. Or you can just use parchment. Do not grease the cover for any recipe no matter how sticky the dough.Yeast breads bake up using same time and temperature as usual; and the pans do offer an even bake, but the bottom and side crusts are a little more pale than those my gold t. pans produce. For sandwich-type loaves, once the interiors have come up close to temperature, I pop the loaves out, cover the tops with foil, and place them directly on the oven rack for 5-10 minutes to get a crisper, browner crust. Sugary yeast breads bake quite well; I'm very happy with how the crusts bake in these pans without any adjustment. Wet loaves like quick breads seem to take a bit longer to bake. If your oven tends to be "fast" these pans will help with over-browning. An instant read thermometer is useful when getting used to these pan, even if you've used your recipes for years in other pans, including the gold pans which are not much darker than these. I've never used the other USA bread pans, so I can't speak to whether or not they provide the same baking experience as the pullman pans.You can of course use these pans with or without their lids. They hold a well-sized loaf particularly those from older recipes when slightly larger 9" x 5" or 9 1/2" pans were common. Let the dough rise to 1/2 to 1" below the top of the pans, the dough will rise more but won't collapse or leak out when it hits the lid during baking. The lids slide easily into place and come off just as easily. They don't lock, but you can tell when they're in place properly.Since the allure of a pullman loaf pan is its straight sides, you can forgive them for not stacking. Nonetheless, if you buy the set of two they're not bad on space. I store one sort of tilted inside the other with their two lids propped between them and other pans.Since one of my pans did arrive with a dent, I'd advise you to check your pans over carefully for any damage to the metal or the finish. Sometimes I see that people have been unhappy with how silicone-coated pans wear. I'd be seriously peeved and would post again if the finish were to not wear well. Overall I'm quite pleased especially with getting a sizable discount on buying the pair. A necessity? Not in the least, but if you make this little splurge opt for the set of two and get their lids as well so you can get more use out of them.

Highly recommend! I love these. So easy to clean and bread never ever sticks. The lid makes it easy to use as a bread box after the bread is made, too. Only caution is I recommend following the directions for volume/rising, etc. I overloaded one of mine and the bread rose high enough to pop the top off in the oven - the lid is a little mishaped now but still totally functional. (My bad!)

These pans seem to be excellent quality! Heavier than I expected & I'm sure that they'll last a long time with basic care. Would definitely buy these again but I doubt I'll ever need to.There are two things I would change to make these perfect for me:1. It would be nice to have a stainless steel option rather than aluminized steel.2. The metal all around the pan & lid is rolled over to a smooth edge, except for the areas I circled in the picture. Those aren't razor sharp but they could be smoother to make the pans feel nicer to handle. I'm not worried about cutting myself on it, but it's a blemish on an otherwise great design.The only real problem was how they were shipped. In an Amazon box that was too big for the contents & with no packing material. At some point in shipping, one of the lids (I bought the 2-pack, 9"x4") got dented (see photos showing undamaged vs damaged) which made it really tough to remove from the pan. I was able to bend it back enough so it's not a functional problem now & I'm not going to return them just for that.

I love them so much! Baking bread loaves in them has never been easier - they slide right on out, never needed to grease up the pan or anything! Absolute game changer in my opinion.

These don't even need to be greased and the bread just falls out without much effort. Definitely recommend. Also, it seems to bake it evenly.

Like all the USA pans, these are solid and clean up easily. One pan is a perfect size for a yeasted loaf with 500g of flour, baked with or without the lid. The result is an ideal sandwich loaf. Easy to hold, easy to slice. The non-stick surface is great, the loaf basically falls out of the pan. When baking with the lid I do remove the loaf from the pan and return it to the oven for 10-15 minutes to crisp the crust more.