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Passionate About Panini
By Liz Barrett
There’s just a certain something about panini. It’s so much more
than the average sandwich, and extra care goes into making a
really great panini, with its fl avorful fi llings, melted cheese
and crispy rustic bread—extra points for grill markings!
At one time, any sandwich made in Italy was referred
to as panini—grilled or not. Once this style
of sandwiches made its way over to the United
States, we began grilling them (sometimes
using cast-iron pans or foil-wrapped
bricks to press down the bread). Eventually,
commercial panini presses made
their appearance, and it became easier
for everyone—restaurateurs and
consumers—to make their own
pressed culinary delights.
Panini Prep
There are many ways in which
you can make panini—some use
rustic bread only, forgoing the
grilling; some use ciabatta or
focaccia bread and grill it on
a panini press; still others use
pizza or calzone dough and bake
the sandwiches in an oven—and
that’s just the bread part!
Once you’ve decided on a bread type,
you need to choose what fi lling options
you’re going to offer. You usually don’t
need an extensive list; a couple of meaty
selections as well as a veggie choice
should do the trick. Your options are virtually
endless; try different flavor combinations
using meats and vegetables, and
different sauces and oils, and taste-test
them with your staff before adding them
to the menu.
Louie’s Restaurant (www.louiesrestaurant.com) in Allentown, Pennsylvania,
offers a line of four panini sandwiches for
$6.95 each. “We call them our signature
sandwiches,” says owner Louie Belletieri.
“We’ve been offering them for three
years, and they account for around 5% of
our sales without the use of marketing.”
All of the sandwiches are baked in the
restaurant’s brick oven and include three
meat-based options and one vegetarian.
Across the nation, in Redmond, Washington,
Steve Brodniak, owner of Coyote
Creek Pizza Co. (www.coyotecreekpizza.com), has been serving up panini that require
a fork and knife for 10 years. “Our
Chix panini (lemon-lime-marinated
chicken tossed with roma tomatoes, feta
cheese, and romaine lettuce in a tangy Southwest dressing) is the most popular,
followed by Charlie the Tuna (tuna, roma
tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce tossed
with Caesar dressing),” says Brodniak.
“All are made using our calzone dough
and are served with a side of corn chips.”
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pizza
& Panini by Erik Sherman was written
with consumers in mind, but it also offers
many delicious recipes that you can employ
in your pizzeria. Sherman separates
the panini into chapters such as Carnivore
Combos (meat-fi lled), Plant-Filled Panini
(veggie-filled), International Crusts (global
fl avors) and Morning Mashes (breakfast
panini). Check out PMQ.com/panini
for a sampling of the book’s recipes.
Promoting Panini
Don’t be shy about promoting your
new panini to the outside world. Many
pizzerias add these wonderful gems to
the menu and then never tell anyone. Yes,
they still get ordered during the lunchtime
rush when patrons feel like eating
something other than pizza, but why not
put some effort into promoting the items
you’ve spent precious time creating? This
could be as easy as placing a blackboard
at the front of the store or a note card in
each menu announcing a “Panini of the
Day.” Why not send an email blast to your
customers announcing the new addition
to the menu, or print a coupon in your local
paper for a free soda with every panini
purchased? You could even start a panini
sandwich club, punching a card each time
customers order a panini and then giving
a free one when they reach 8 or 10.
Just like thinking up new panini recipes,
devising ideas to promote them takes
a little creativity on your part. It could
mean the difference between selling 10
panini per week and 25. Don’t think of it
as taking away from your pizza sales, either,
because plenty of people out there
may not feel like pizza today—but they
could sure go for a panini!
Making Panini
By Tom “The Dough Doctor” Lehmann
Panini is an easy, cost-effective item
to add to your menu. While many may
opt to buy bread for making panini, you
can make it yourself, and with what we’re
paying for fl our, you can make it a cost
savings by using old dough that you aren’t
going to use for making pizzas.
I like to use a dark-colored, 12” deepdish
pizza pan that has been prepared by
wiping the inside with shortening, margarine
or butter. You can also use a 14”
pan to make a larger size sandwich. Use
14 ounces of dough for the 12” pan, or 19
ounces for a 14” pan. Roll the dough out
on the bench with a rolling pin, pass it
through a sheeter, or press it so the fi nished
size just fi ts inside the pan. Cover
the pans, or stack them to prevent drying,
and set aside and allow to rise for about
75 minutes at room temperature; then
lightly brush or spray with a little olive
oil, sprinkle on some rosemary and/or
dried basil, add a pinch of sea salt, and
bake at 400° to 425°F in a deck oven, or
375°F in an air impingement oven. Adjust
the baking time so the fi nished crust has
a very light, golden brown color when it is
finished baking. Remove the crusts from
the pan immediately after baking and
place onto a wire rack or a pizza screen to
cool. When thoroughly cooled, the crusts
can be stored in a plastic bag at room
temperature for up to three days.
Cut the crust into equal quarters, and
then slice in half. I like to place these on
a screen, then lightly brush the cut portion
with a little garlic-flavored butter and
put it back into the oven for toasting. At
the same time, put any desired meats or
grilled/roasted vegetables in the oven to
heat along with the bread portion; as soon
as the bread is toasted and crisp, add the
desired toppings and a slice or two of mozzarella
or provolone cheese, and serve.