Panini Bread

Sandwiches are so versatile donchya think? The panini is no exception. Its origins are Italy where they are known as panino. Panini is actually the pleural form of the word. Made popular in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, this type of 'flat bread' sandwich is now very popular everywhere.

I like a good challenge so this week I decided, what the heck, time to make my own panini bread. The slow winter time is starting to wind down and activities are picking up. Soccer practice starts this week and Little League will be following shortly. The Corey is now back in school (he started back to college last Fall BTW) Even though the bread takes some planning, injecting sandwich night into our rotation of dinners has certainly become commonplace on busy school nights.

First of all, you will want to set aside some time for this one. The "starter" needs to set out overnight, & the rising and baking combination will take around 5 hours once the starter is ready. One of my favorite sites to get bread recipes is King Arthur Flour. My search for panini bread didn't take long, as they had what looked like a great one.

If you haven't made any type of bread before this may not be the one to start with, as it is extremely sticky but if you feel comfortable gauging the stickiness factor then, well, go on girl!

So, they call the starter Biga, which if you are interested in the history of it, a quick jont on over to zee Wiki yields this definition. You don't really have to know what it is, I suppose, but I was curious.

So, start your Biga with 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour:

Add 1 cup of water & 1/8 teaspoon of instant yeast:

And mix it up until smooth. Then, cover it up and let it sit overnight. This will give your bread some layered flavor and help with the light airiness you'll want.

Being that I wanted to make the bread the same day I started my starter early in the morning and let it set out for 8 hours instead of overnight. It can set out for up to 15 hours, though.

Once it has sat out for a while you will add together the Biga, 1 teaspoon of instant yeast, 1/2 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour, 1 cup of white whole wheat flour, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon of nonfat dry milk, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1/4 to 1/2 cup water.

The website suggests that you use more water in the winter. As you bake more and more bread you will be able to gauge how much water to add to your dough to get the desired feel. Since it is indeed winter (sigh) I added 1/2 cup.

Next, mix it up on medium speed, about a 4 on my mixer as suggested, but watch out. You may want to start at 1 and work up to a 4, because if you start right into a 4 it will spray flour all over you. Ask me how I know.

So, wipe the flour off of your face, shirt, jeans and well, the dog already has it licked off of the floor so there's 1 less step. Where were we? Ah yes, mix it up with a flat beater until it clears the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes. If it's not clearing it keep mixing for another couple of minutes.

Switch to your dough hook and mix it up for another 3-4 minutes.

Put in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it sit for 2 hours in a warm, dry place. If you are around to punch it down after about an hour then go for it. Or let your kids do it. Because if you are like me, you want to keep them from punching each other, and maybe this will help. Parenting 101, by Pamela S.

After 2 hours of rise time, lightly grease a baking sheet. Divide the dough in half and shape each one into a 10 " log. Put dough on pan and spread out to about 3 " wide. When I tried to shape the log it was very sticky but able to keep the shape. I just laid the dough straight onto the pan and shaped it there because it stuck too much to the wooden board I usually use to roll out the dough. Cover with heavily oiled plastic wrap.

It starts out like this:

And, after 2 more hours of rise time, looks like this: I separated it with a knife just enough so it wouldn't bake together. The dough, at this point will have a consistency like Jello, very light, and wiggly.

In a preheated oven at 425°, bake the bread for 22-25 minutes.

After the time is up take the bread off of your pan, turn the oven off, and sit the bread on an oven rack, with the oven slightly ajar, and let cool like this (above).

Ooh, that looks good. It turned out pretty much just like it was supposed to.....so (in my best Borat impression) I would consider this a great success!

When you are ready to make your sammiches, just cut the bread in half and add your ingredients and cook em' up. I do not have room in my cupboards for such a specified appliance as a panini maker so I just took 1 pan, 1 smaller cast iron skillet and cooked them this way.

Just baste the outside of the bread with melted butter or olive oil or a mixture of both (that's the way we like it, uh huh, uh huh). Add the bottom piece of bread to the pan on medium high heat, add ingredients to the bread, and put the top of the bread on, smash down with your smaller skillet and turn once the bottom is browned up. Verdict: it was a hit! And very quick. (the meal itself anyway)

Panini Bread

Biga:

• 1 1/2 cups Unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough:

• biga
• 1 teaspoon insant yeast
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1. Mix Biga ingredients together and let sit, covered, overnight, for up to 15 hours.
2. Add all dough ingredients to mixer, including Biga, with flat beater, for 3 minutes on medium speed. The dough should be clearing the sides at this point but if not continue to beat for another 2 minutes.
3. Switch to dough hook and knead for 3-4 more minutes.
4. Transfer dough to greased, covered bowl and let rise for 2 hours, punching down once at about an hour.
5. Divide dough in half.
6. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet, about 8 x 13 or larger, and shape each piece of dough into a 10 " log. Then flatten out to 3 " across.
7. Cover the dough with a heavily oiled piece of plastic wrap.
8. After 2 hours put dough into a preheated 425° oven and bake until golden brown.
9. Remove loaves of bread from baking sheet, turn oven off, and put loaves back into oven, straight onto rack with door of oven slightly open until loaves are cooled.
10. Go make yo-self a sammich!

Weekly Menu:

Sunday: Carnitas taquitos (my own recipe with base carnitas at Homesick Texan), Mexican rice

Monday: Mongolian beef, jasmine rice, egg rolls (so good)

Tuesday: Ham & swiss Panini with roasted red potatoes (bread as above)

Wednesday: Garlic oven-fried chicken breasts, roasted cauliflower and broccoli, Mac & cheese

Thursday: Italian sausage with bow-tie pasta, veggies, and fresh parmesan, salad

Friday: eating out

Saturday: leftovers