Talk:Pullman loaf

Usage
This article does not fit exactly with my personal experience of working in restaurants and sandwich shops in the sixties and seventies. A Pullman loaf in those places was an oversize, square-cross-section, two-pound loaf of wheat or white bread. This made a sandwich that was about 15% wider on all sides than a standard supermarket one-pound or pound-and-a-half loaf.

I was told that they were called Pullman loaves because the dining cars on the old railroads insisted on the oversize loaves so as to distinguish their product from similar things made at home.

The San Diego bakery we ordered bread from had Pullman loaves listed separately from supermarket loaves on their order forms. Some other bakeries called the oversize bread Texas loaves, the difference being that Texas loaves were sliced very thick as well as being taller and wider.

Another name for such oversize bread was deli-loaf and this applied to the oversize "loaves" of cheese amd ham and other lunchmeats we used to prepare our sandwiches, most of which were about 10-15% larger than the stuff sold in supermarkets. Rye and sourdough bread came in deli-loaves, too; oval instead of square. Our meats and cheese were ordered from Vienna Beef or Boar's Head out of Chicago. Halfelven (talk) 17:41, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Merger proposal
Propose to merge with pain de mie as the content of each is substantially identical and pain de mie seems mainly to be the French term for a Pullman loaf. The differences between each can be discussed within the body of the merged page. Sandwich bread should also redirect to Pullman loaf since "sandwich bread" in common use specifies a particular type of bread that is basically a Pullman loaf. oh my yes (talk) 01:57, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't think it should be merged. In America a Pullman Loaf is a Pullman Loaf and has it's own identity. The similarity to pain de mie is only in the shape and the baking pan- Telling a French baker that his loaf is the same as a commercial American loaf would be an insult.Saxophobia (talk) 16:39, 30 July 2010 (UTC)