French Sandwich Pain au Lait

I never thought much of breads made in the style of the white French sandwich bread called pain de mie, which translates as “the heart of the crumb” or “the middle of the bread loaf,” until I took a class with Steve Sullivan, the baker at Chez Panisse at the time. This bread is similar to the one he made. While he worked we munched on the bread with slices of fresh California mozzarella and paper-thin prosciutto with a dab of olive paste, experiencing what he described as “a play of