Celery Toasts Recipe (2024)

What is Pullman bread? Is it available in California? What would be a substitute? Looking forward to trying this.

Pullman bread is made in a Pullman loaf pan with a square cross-section (say 5” x 5”) and a lid that slides over the pan to close it after the dough is loaded. The lid keeps the bread from rising up out of the pan. After baking, the lid is removed, the square loaf taken out and then sliced into neat squares of a bread with a tight crumb.

Snack Tray = Apero hour! Life is greatly enhanced when you take an hour to pause and chat before dinner with a cool beverage and a tasty bit to accompany it. This recipe is perfect.

I'm thinking Pepperidge Farm white. Is that available in California?

Not at all sure how exactly the celery is supposed to be prepared, 'shaved' and then 'sliced on the bias'.

try the pepperidge farm white farmhouse bread. dense and good flavor, more thickly sliced than regular - but not square. no need to overthinkthis!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic4D7AgTc9Q

I don't know what Pullman bread is either, but I figured the important thing is for the slices to be big enough to cut in four. I used a good "campagne" from our wonderful local bakery, Della Fattoria. We served to guests and they flew off the plate. Next, to make them a little less rich, I will butter the toasts more sparingly and spread the cambozola instead of slicing it. This would also give better balance between bread, cream and celery. I'll make this often.

Love this recipe. I found the garlic delightful in the moment but unforgiving 10 minutes-12 hours following so I now marinate the garlic in the olive oil for 30 mins then discard it when the olive oil is infused with garlic essence. I also use toasted sour dough instead of sandwich bread because, well, sour dough.

“Shaved” just means very thinly sliced. It’s easiest on a mandoline but not necessary - just slice them as thinly and evenly as possible.

I made this the same day I saw it in the paper but didn't have white bread in the house (used whole grain wheat) and didn't have cambozola so I topped the butter layer with feta, celery mixture and blue cheese dressing then black pepper. Delicious and refreshing. Definitely a go to lunch!

What a luxurious little treat this is. I'm a celery lover, so always looking for something different to do with it. I had a beautiful local blue, so made these immediately.
Thanks to Helen for her comment on using the butter. I probably would have left it out, and I'm very glad I didn't.

Having made many similar "toasts", I've found it's best to let the toast cool before buttering it--it acts as a barrier to hold the wetter ingredients and keep the bread from sogginess longer.

A few thoughts... Decent loaf-cut bread is getting harder to find these days, so perhaps this could be done on slices of baguette. Also, I'd consider either lightly blanching the celery crescents, or letting them marinate for at least a few hours, to tenderize them. Third, I'd add a splash of good Cognac to the cheese mixture. And finally, if you have (as I do) a non-blue-cheese-eater in the family, I think this recipe would be nearly as good with Brie, Chevre, or Fontina.

For those in Germany, a Pullman loaf (helpfully explained by reader mjan in the reader comments) is what is sold here as Toastbrot. Though I dare say if you can find a more interesting white bread than supermarket Toastbrot, go for it.

Delicious appetizer and great way to use up extra celery. We used crackers because that is what we had on hand. Tried with and without butter - couldn't really tell a difference so stuck with just the cambazola. Might have been different with bread. Would recommend - very tasty!

Delicious. Every once in a blue moon instead of making dinner I'll just decide to nosh on some party food: I'll put together this, some thinly sliced ice cold crisp radishes and honey crisp apple, a small dish of almonds or pistachios, Cerignola olives, and a cold white or rose. Sometimes nice to swap out the wine for a Bloody Mary or a Don Johnson.

I'm going back and marking many Times recipes as cooked, which I have not done before. These are fabulous! Big party coming up next week and this is on the menu.

Re: Butter. Am I spreading it onto warm toast? To melt? I'd think it would go on semi-solid in order to form a moisture barrier. But I'm wondering what the recipe intends.

a pleasant lunch or supper. i can't tolerate raw onions or garlic, so I cooked the scallions in olive oil, added the garlic toward the end. they were delicious under the celery.

The point of using Pullman bread is not texture but the square shape of the loaf (dough is not allowed to rise in the typical "dome" shape on most commercial breads). It originated, as the name implies, on the railroads in order that more loaves could be stacked on the shelves in the tiny galleys on dining cars.

Still fabulous! Pullman bread not available, Texas toast worked great as a substitute (trimmed the crusts).

This was pretty underwhelming. The celery salad on top was probably the best part, and a good use of something I already had in the fridge, but I can't see making these again.

How does one shave celery?

Ah, I see my error! I used blue cheese, not a cream blue. It was far too crumbly. Cheese and celery falling all over the place. It would have been better to toast the cheese after you added it, Taste was good, however the best part of this recipe was using blue cheese on toast! Next day I toasted homemade sourdough sandwich bread, buttered, added blue cheese a few sliced green onions above and below a couple slices of prosciutto. Back in the toaster oven to broil. Added fig jam on top. Yum!

I made it as is but also added thinly sliced radish to it. Wonderful recipe!

Tried with kite hill cream cheese for bill

Easy, tasty, refreshing. Perfect for leftover celery. One celery stalk was just the right amount for one piece of breads. Smeared cream cheese in lieu and butter and cheese. Probably put in too much lemon juice myself.

Isn't toasting the last thing to do and making the celery the first?