Panini is the Italian answer to a toast or a grilled sandwich. For the perfect sandwich, you need delicious bread, and fortunately, they are easy to make at home. Read on and get our recipe for tasty homemade panini bread that becomes crispy when placed in a panini grill.
Homemade Panini Bread
Sandwiches and toasts are always a hit at our home. This applies to both lunch, in the lunchbox, or as a light dinner. Because yes, sometimes dinner just needs to be quick and easy. Especially when we have a busy everyday life with school, homework, and sports in the afternoon.
On those days, it’s wonderful to have the freezer stocked with homemade panini bread. This way, you can quickly make some delicious paninis.
A panini is an Italian sandwich. Italians seem to enjoy them for both breakfast and lunch, but here at home, they also work well as a simple everyday dinner.
The bread is split in half, and then you can fill your sandwich with all sorts of delicious ingredients like pesto, ham, mozzarella, and arugula before it goes into a panini press and gets toasted.
So, it’s a grilled sandwich, and the bread is important here.
We’ve been using store-bought ciabatta bread for a while, and it works, but these homemade panini bread simply taste better and become wonderfully crispy on the grill.
Ingredient notes
Dry yeast – Dry yeast is easy to work with and can be bought in most supermarkets. Mix it with lukewarm milk and sugar to activate the yeast.
Wheat flour – Use the wheat flour or Manitoba flour you have at home. You can also replace half of the flour with whole wheat flour if you want to make whole-grain panini bread.
How to make panini bread?
It’s not difficult at all to make your own bread for paninis. First, dissolve the yeast in lukewarm milk along with sugar. After it’s been standing for 10 minutes, mix in the rest of the ingredients, and knead the dough well.
Then, divide the dough into 4 smaller portions, roll them out, and place them on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Now, let your bread rise for about 2 hours before baking.
After baking, let them cool on a rack, and then you can either store them away or make your paninis with homemade bread.
Find the full recipe further down this page.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, panini bread can be frozen with great results. So, go ahead and make a large batch and freeze them. This way, you always have them ready for a tasty sandwich.
Yes, you can also replace half of the wheat flour with whole wheat flour if you want to make whole-grain panini bread. You can also try using Italian Manitoba flour, which results in fantastic bread.
You can use almost anything. Favorites at our home include pesto, arugula, ham, and mozzarella, or grilled chicken fillet, pesto, arugula, mozzarella, and Parmesan. But only your imagination sets the limit.
Other bread recipes you might like
Recipe for homemade sandwich bread for paninis
Here’s our recipe for delicious homemade panini bread. These are delightful small sandwich bread that you can enjoy as they are, or use them to create Italian-style sandwiches.
Panini is wonderful for lunch, a light dinner, or the kids’ lunchboxes. They taste wonderful, and you can vary the fillings as you like. We hope you feel inspired to try our recipe.
Panini bread
Equipment
- Panini press
- Stand mixer
Ingredients
- 160 g milk
- ½ tsp dry yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 30 g butter
- ½ tsp salt
- 300 g all purpose flour
Instructions
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Warm the milk until it’s lukewarm. Add the dry yeast and sugar, and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to activate the yeast.160 g milk, ½ tsp dry yeast, 1 tsp sugar
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Melt the butter and let it cool down. Put the milk with yeast and sugar into a stand mixer along with the melted butter, salt, and all purpose flour. Knead the dough well until it's smooth and elastic. This will take around 15 minutes.30 g butter, ½ tsp salt, 300 g all purpose flour
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Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces.
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Roll out each piece of dough into an oval shape, about ½ cm thick.
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Place the bread on a baking sheet and let them rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until they have doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius (347 degrees Fahrenheit) using top and bottom heat.
- Bake the breads for 18-20 minutes at 175 degrees Celsius (347 degrees Fahrenheit), then let them cool completely on a wire rack.
- Now your homemade panini bread is ready to be used for delicious Italian paninis.
Nutrition
How do you like the recipe?
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