Poolish Yogurt Pullman Loaf ❤️ Fine, Soft, and Moist Crumb

I highly recommend this Pullman loaf. As long as you follow the steps, it is very beginner-friendly. Unlike some high-hydration recipes where the dough is sticky enough to make you question your life choices, this dough feels clean and non-sticky, and bakes into a super soft loaf with a great feathery shred. Combining a poolish with yogurt wonderfully improves the crumb structure and mouthfeel.

🍞Poolish Ingredients:

75g water + 75g bread flour + about 0.7g instant dry yeast

🍞Main Dough Ingredients:

Bread flour 200g, thick plain yogurt 60g, baking milk powder 20g, 1 large egg, salt 3g, sugar 30g, instant dry yeast 2g, room-temperature softened butter 25g.

🍭Method:

1️⃣ Make the poolish.

See Photo 5. This is the exact amount of poolish needed for one 450g Pullman loaf (150g poolish total).

Stir 75g water, 75g bread flour, and about 0.7g instant dry yeast together with chopsticks until uniform. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or ferment at room temperature for about 4 hours until covered with large bubbles on top, as shown in Photo 6. If chilled overnight in the fridge, check for bubbles the next day; if there aren't many yet, let it sit at room temperature until bubbly before mixing the main dough.

2️⃣ Once the poolish is ready, put it into the mixer bowl along with all main dough ingredients except the butter. Knead until the dough stretches into a thick membrane, then add the softened butter and knead until it reaches the full windowpane stage.

3️⃣ Shape the dough into a tight ball, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

4️⃣ After the first proof, gently degas the large air pockets, divide into 3 equal portions, shape into tight balls, cover with plastic wrap, and bench rest for 15 minutes.

5️⃣ Roll out, coil, and place into the Pullman loaf pan. Proof in a warm, humid environment until 80% to 90% full in the pan.

6️⃣ Bake at 175°C for about 31 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil in time once the top browns.

7️⃣ Tap the pan firmly out of the oven, unmold, and cool on a wire rack.

Helpful Tips:

1. Every oven runs differently, so adjust baking time and temperature for your own oven.

2. Soften the butter at room temperature ahead of time so it incorporates easily into the dough for optimal results. Butter that is cold from the fridge or melted into liquid won't perform as well as properly softened butter.

3. Different flours absorb different amounts of water, so adjust the yogurt amount by 5g to 10g up or down based on how the dough feels.

4. This formula is only lightly sweet. If you prefer a sweeter loaf, feel free to add extra sugar.