You can make incredible chicken salad, layer on great cheese, slice tomatoes at their peak – and still end up with a sandwich that feels a little sad if the bread is wrong. Choosing the best bread for sandwiches is not just about what tastes good on its own. It is about structure, texture, moisture control, and how each bite holds together from first crunch to last crumb.

Listen, I get it. Bread can seem like the least exciting part of the sandwich, right up until your hoagie collapses, your grilled cheese turns dry, or your turkey club gets gummy in the middle. The right loaf makes fillings taste brighter, richer, crispier, and more balanced. That is why bread deserves a little more attention than grabbing whatever is on sale.

What makes the best bread for sandwiches?

The best sandwich bread does three jobs at once. It should support the filling, add flavor without overpowering everything else, and create a texture contrast that makes the sandwich satisfying to eat.

That sounds simple, but different breads solve different problems. Soft pullman bread is great when you want a neat, even bite with creamy fillings. Sourdough brings chew and tang, which can wake up rich ingredients like ham, melted cheese, or roasted vegetables. Ciabatta is airy and dramatic, but it can also squish slippery fillings right out the side if you overstuff it. So yes, there is a best bread for sandwiches, but it depends on the sandwich you are making.

A few things matter most. Crumb structure affects whether sauces soak in gently or turn the bread soggy. Crust affects bite and durability. Flavor matters too. Mild breads let fillings lead. More flavorful breads become part of the point.

The best bread for sandwiches by type

Sourdough

If you want one of the most versatile options, start here. Sourdough has enough character to make a basic sandwich taste more interesting, but it still plays well with classic fillings. It is especially good for grilled cheese, turkey sandwiches, ham and Swiss, tuna melts, and anything with sharp cheddar.

The trade-off is chew. A rustic sourdough with a very thick crust can be too tough for delicate sandwiches or for kids who want something softer and easier to bite. If that sounds familiar, look for a sandwich-style sourdough loaf with a thinner crust and tighter crumb.

Pullman loaf or classic white sandwich bread

This is the bread that gets underestimated all the time. Good white sandwich bread is soft, even, tidy, and incredibly useful. It is ideal for PB&J, egg salad, cucumber sandwiches, tea sandwiches, and grilled cheese when you want maximum golden crispness with minimal resistance.

What it gives you in tenderness, it gives up in heft. Wet fillings can overwhelm it quickly, especially if you pile on tomato slices, oil-based spreads, or juicy deli meat. It is best when the fillings are creamy rather than drippy.

Whole wheat bread

Whole wheat bread is a solid everyday choice when you want a little more nuttiness and a heartier feel. It works beautifully with turkey, roast chicken, hummus, avocado, bacon, and crunchy vegetables. It brings more flavor than white bread, but usually not as much tang or chew as sourdough.

Not all whole wheat breads are equal, though. Some are soft and slightly sweet, which works well for lunchbox sandwiches. Others are dense and grain-heavy, which can dominate mild fillings. If your sandwich tastes more like bread than what is inside it, that loaf is doing too much.

Rye

Rye is unmatched for certain sandwiches. Corned beef, pastrami, roast beef, Swiss cheese, mustard, pickles – this is where rye shines. Its earthy, slightly peppery flavor gives deli-style sandwiches real personality.

Still, rye is not an all-purpose pick for every kitchen. It can overpower gentler fillings like chicken salad or mozzarella. Choose it when you want a bold sandwich, not a blank canvas.

Ciabatta

Ciabatta is fantastic when you want an elevated, bakery-style sandwich at home. Its chewy structure and open crumb are perfect for pressed sandwiches, Italian combinations, fresh mozzarella with tomatoes, or roasted vegetables with pesto.

The catch is that its large holes can let sauces and small fillings escape. If you are working with egg salad, chopped chicken salad, or anything very drippy, ciabatta can be messy in a hurry. It is best with layered fillings rather than scoopable ones.

Brioche

Brioche makes sandwiches feel a little luxurious. It is buttery, soft, and lightly sweet, which makes it a dream for breakfast sandwiches, fried chicken sandwiches, and ham-and-cheese combinations that want a richer edge.

Because it is soft and enriched, it is not the first choice for heavily dressed deli sandwiches. It can compress under weight and may taste too sweet with acidic pickles or strong mustard. But for indulgent sandwiches, it is a star.

Hoagie rolls and sub rolls

When the sandwich is long, loaded, and packed with layers, rolls are the move. A good hoagie roll offers enough structure for deli meats, shredded lettuce, tomato, cheese, and dressing without falling apart halfway through lunch.

The texture matters more than people think. Too soft, and the roll turns squishy. Too hard, and every bite drags the fillings out. The sweet spot is a roll with a gentle chew and a thin crust.

How to match bread to the filling

Think about moisture first. Juicy fillings need a sturdier bread. Steak, meatballs, caprese, and anything dressed with vinaigrette hold up better on ciabatta, sub rolls, or hearty sourdough. Creamier fillings like pimento cheese, tuna salad, and chicken salad are better on softer sliced bread that compresses slightly and keeps everything in place.

Then think about flavor intensity. Delicate fillings like turkey, butter lettuce, cucumber, or mild cheeses pair best with white bread, soft wheat, or a mild sourdough. Stronger fillings like pastrami, salami, aged cheddar, or olive tapenade can stand up to rye, crusty sourdough, or seeded loaves.

Finally, consider how you want the sandwich to feel. Do you want neat and classic, hearty and rustic, or crisp and pressed? The best bread for sandwiches is often the one that gives you the eating experience you actually want, not just the one that sounds fancy.

When to toast and when to leave it alone

Toasting is not always the upgrade people think it is. It adds structure and crunch, which is helpful for avocado sandwiches, BLTs, tuna melts, and open-faced builds. It also creates a barrier that slows sogginess.

But toast can work against soft fillings. A fluffy egg salad or chicken salad sandwich on very crunchy bread can feel awkward and hard to eat. Soft sandwich bread, left untoasted, often gives a more balanced bite there. For deli meats and cheeses, lightly toasting just the inside faces of the bread is a smart middle ground.

A quick recipe description for the kind of sandwich this article is built for

Here is the sandwich style this advice was made for: a craveable turkey-and-cheddar sandwich on sandwich-style sourdough with mayo, Dijon, crisp lettuce, thin tomato slices, and a few pickles for bite. The sourdough gives just enough tang and structure, the cheddar adds richness, and the fresh vegetables keep the whole thing bright instead of heavy. It is the kind of lunch that tastes familiar but noticeably better, which is exactly the sweet spot for home cooks who want everyday meals to feel more rewarding.

To make it, toast two slices of sourdough lightly until just golden at the edges. Spread one side with mayo and the other with Dijon. Layer sliced turkey, sharp cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and pickles, then season the tomato with a pinch of salt and pepper before closing the sandwich. Slice it in half and serve right away while the bread still has that perfect mix of crisp edges and tender center.

Bread mistakes that ruin a good sandwich

The biggest mistake is choosing bread by looks alone. A gorgeous artisan loaf is not automatically the best bread for sandwiches if the crust is so tough that it shreds the roof of your mouth. Another common problem is not thinking about moisture. If your filling is wet, add a buffer like lettuce, cheese, or a thin swipe of butter or mayo directly on the bread.

Thickness matters too. Bread sliced too thick can make the sandwich feel all wrong, especially with modest fillings. You should taste the whole build, not feel like you are chewing through a loaf.

And yes, freshness counts. Slightly stale bread can be revived with toasting for some sandwiches, but not all. For soft sandwiches, fresh bread is the difference between satisfying and forgettable.

If you cook the way we do at The Faerietale Foodie, you already know small ingredient choices can change everything. Bread is one of those choices. Give it the same attention you give the fillings, and your sandwiches start tasting less like a backup plan and more like the meal you were actually craving.

The next time you build a sandwich, start with the question that matters most: do you want soft, chewy, crusty, or rich? Your answer will get you a lot closer to the right loaf than any generic rule ever could.

The post Best Bread for Sandwiches, Ranked first appeared on The Faerietale Foodie.

Why You’ll Love This Banana Bread Recipe

✔ Super Moist & Soft: Achieve the perfect texture every time.

✔ Easy to Make: No mixer needed—just a few simple steps.

✔ Versatile & Customizable: Add nuts, chocolate chips, or spices to enhance flavor.

✔ Great for Leftover Bananas: The best way to use up ripe bananas.

Ingredients for the Best Banana Bread

Basic Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, melted (or 1/2 cup vegetable oil)
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar (reduce to 1/2 cup for a less sweet loaf)
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, for added warmth)

Optional Add-Ins:

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (for crunch)
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (for a sweeter treat)
• 1/2 cup dried fruit, such as raisins or cranberries
• 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup (for extra depth of flavor)

How to Make Banana Bread – Step-by-Step

• Prepare the Oven and Pan

• • Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
  • Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with butter or non-stick spray, or line it with parchment paper for easy removal.

• Mash the Bananas & Mix Wet Ingredients

• • • In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until smooth.
    • Add the melted butter (or oil), sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract, then mix until well combined.

• Combine the Dry Ingredients

• • • In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
    • Gradually fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, stirring gently with a spatula until just combined. Avoid overmixing to keep the bread soft.

• Add Mix-Ins & Transfer to Pan

• • • If using nuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit, gently fold them into the batter.
    • Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

• Bake & Check for Doneness

• • • Bake for 50–60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
    • If the top browns too quickly, loosely cover it with foil during the last 10–15 minutes of baking.

• Cool & Serve

• • Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Slice and enjoy warm, or store for later.

Banana Bread Variations & Dietary Swaps

• Flour Alternatives: Swap all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour for a denser texture, or use a gluten-free flour blend for a GF version.
• Sugar Substitutes: Replace granulated sugar with coconut sugar, honey, or maple syrup for a natural sweetness.
• Butter/Oil Replacements: Use applesauce, Greek yogurt, or mashed avocado instead of butter for a healthier option.
• Egg-Free Version: Replace each egg with 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce or a flaxseed egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water, mixed and left to sit for 5 minutes).

Pro Tips for Perfect Banana Bread

✔ Use Very Ripe Bananas – The darker and spottier, the better! Overripe bananas add natural sweetness and moisture.

✔ Measure Ingredients Accurately – Too much flour can make the bread dense, so use the spoon-and-level method when measuring.

✔ Avoid Overmixing – Stir just until the ingredients are combined; overmixing leads to a tough texture.

✔ Bake in the Center of the Oven – This ensures even cooking and prevents over-browning.

✔ Check for Doneness Properly – A toothpick should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. If it’s wet, bake for a few more minutes.

FAQs About Banana Bread

► Why Is My Banana Bread Dry?

        🗹 Overbaking or using too much flour can cause dryness. Be sure to measure flour correctly and check for doneness at 50 minutes.

► How Do I Store Banana Bread?

        🗹 Keep at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container.

        🗹 Refrigerate for up to a week.

        🗹 Freeze slices for up to 3 months—just thaw and enjoy!

► Can I Make Muffins Instead?

        🗹 Yes! Divide the batter into a greased muffin tin and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 18–22 minutes.

Conclusion – Try This Easy Banana Bread Recipe Today!

This homemade banana bread recipe is easy, delicious, and endlessly adaptable. Whether you stick to the classic or try fun add-ins, you’ll have a moist, flavorful loaf every time. Try it out, share with family and friends, and enjoy the comforting taste of freshly baked banana bread. Happy baking!

If you 💖this recipe, don’t forget to leave a comment and rating below! Share your creations on social media.

Faerietalefoodie.com

The post Best Homemade Banana Bread Recipe – Moist & Easy first appeared on The Faerietale Foodie.

My history with sandwiches, like many others I’m sure, starts way back in my humble tupperware lunchbox with a very basic and monotonous beginning; fom the age of ooooh about 5 till 11 my packed lunch consisted of 1 white bread sandwich spread with margerine and marmite and was accompanied day in, day out, by a solitary chunk of edam, no exaggeration, my bother got honey sarnies, god forbid we ever got the wrong lunch box. I remember gazing longingly at the other childrens extavagent lunch affairs but knew that crisps and chocolate or sweets were not to be. To be honest though, the main event I was quite happy with, I’ve always loved Marmite and could quite happily still eat it evey day – as long as the spread was pushed right to the edges, and at that age I knew no better concerning the white pappy bread.

My experience with the sandwich has come on in leaps and bounds since then with a slightly shaky period of gastronomic wilderness in my late teens where pretty much every meal was served between 2 slices, in ever increasingly horrifying combinations, culminating in me regularly serving my poor Brother and I chicken nugget, baked bean and cheese monstrosoites topped with a fried egg – not that he ever complained….My love affair picked up momentum when I spent a year in Australia; enthralled with their fusion flavours and use of exciting breads I indulged wholeheartedly in steak, garlic aoli in ciabatta, and chicken, sweet chilli and avocado in turkish bread and their amazing chicken kebab wraps made the perfect conclusion to a night of drinking. Inspired by the endless possible combinations I invested in a panini press on my return, and to this day still use it easily 2-3 times a week for an easy and convenient meal when I’m sat at the laptop.

So even now I find that I am loyal to bread and eschew all other carbs, all my favourite meals have dough at the centre; there’s nothing wrong with rice, but I’d much prefer a plump, pillowy naan to mop up my curry, a kebab is nothing without it’s yielding pitta, or a georgian feast without the incredible khachapuri, I adore slices of rare steak crammed into and oozing unctuous juices onto a homemade roll with melted cheese, or chunks of sweet lamb tucked into fragrant flatbreads with aubergine pesto and halloumi. I’ve already mentioned my adoration of a good pizza, but then there’s the piadina’s I ate on the East Coast of Italy; a simple construction of lard enhanced, blistered flatbread filled with soft sheeps cheese, cured meat and peppery rocket. I’ve also always been a lover of a burger, but have only recently had my eyes opened to the ‘gourmet burger’ and enjoyed frankly awesome versions courtesy of both Hawksmoor Seven Dials and the Meat Wagon.

I think the appeal of bread, at least for me lies in it’s ability to be pulled apart, torn assunder, dunked, mopped, it enables me to play with my food a little, to pick and nibble in a way that rice, potatoes, cous cous etc just won’t allow . And then there are the many varieties available, obviously home baked is optimum but when I’m feeling lazy or time won’t allow, I love a loaf of St Johns sourdough which is just heaven served simply with butter or my other love – cheese (although that deserves a whole post of it’s own) and some chutney and fresh figs. It would be remiss of me to leave out the humble bacon sarnie, with it’s magical hangover diminishing properties, loved in force by the masses, I’m sure many wouldn’t start their weekend without one. The incarnation of which I’m most longing to try is that of the bacon naan at Dishoom – alas it is only on their breakfast menu, and I’m just never there early enough (did I mention I walk everywhere?)…..maybe one day.

This brings me to my quest (if you’ve managed to make it this far), I’ve found that on my travels, pounding the pavement for hours at a time, out of sheer laziness and bad planning, I’ve become a slave to those easy to find giants with their loyalty cards, weak coffee and uninspiring pre-packed crap. I’m vowing now to abandon those establishments and embark upon an adventure to find my perfect lunchtime haunt, a little hideaway that I can retreat to for half an hour or so, somewhere I can indulge my sandwich lust while enjoying a good coffee and maybe something sweet – you know I’m a chocoholic right? I’m not looking for anything fancy, merely an oasis amongst my day, to gather my thoughts and refresh. I’m looking for somewhere that is beguilling, I want to be enchanted, bewitched even, but also knocked sideways by flavours and outstanding produce…..does this place exist?

You might also like: Sandwiches – A Retrospective Post

Well, I promise to report back on my weekend discoveries and you can return here to read about my progress and thoughts on places I’ve tried. I’m already starting with a long list of places I’m excited to visit in Central London but I’d love to have some recommendations of anywhere you think’s great or that you think I would! Let me know what you think…

The post Sandwich Love and a Quest first appeared on The Faerietale Foodie.

I just about remembered to do what any good blogger does in these circumstances; I instagrammed my lunch.

Cue the best response for a pic I’ve taken to date so far. It’s all in that close-up buttered and seared crust and oozing cheese. I know, I know. It just so happens to be National Sandwich Week so I thought I’d pop it on here along with some past thoughts and ideas on the subject.

It was actually my fifth post, three years ago now where I vocalised my ‘Sandwich Love and a Quest‘ which was to be the very beginning of my, at first, tentative journey into coffee. It was simply, back then, a search for the best lunch spots, but you can see that over time this instigated in me a strong yearning to learn more about coffee and all it entails as I doggedly asked more questions and listened and absorbed, propped up at many a London coffee bar.

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I fell in love with the trio of Fernandez & Wells stores at the time, the unbeatable sandwiches and some short and intriguing long blacks (yes, that’s what I drank back then). There are, of course, double that number of stores now as well as their Somerset House residency. I marvelled at the absolute perfection of Kaffeine, that still stands out as one of London’s greatest cafes, and Shaun, who won over so many customers behind that bar has now taken his charm outside and has his own brilliant Noble Espresso. I rhapsodised over the chelsea buns, banana bread and monte cristo sandwich at Foxcroft and Ginger, who’ve just opened a second site, but always found their coffee a touch hit or miss. I can only reminisce over the incredible F.A.T. Ultimate toasties at Dunnefrankowski at Sharps while drinking delicious coffee and eating whatever pop up is currently doing so and serving. Oh and they make a damn fine sarnie, and damn fine coffee, at my local Fee and Brown, of which there’s now a branch in Orpington, yes really.

I wrote about Raw Duck , the little sibling to Soho’s Duck Soup, when it opened in the Summer of last year, it met an undeserved early demise after a short few months of trading but has come back bigger and stronger than ever before right next to Lardo up at the top of London Fields. They have a proper kitchen this time around and massively increased space to play with and you’ll be pleased to hear the epic Dirty Bird sanger is back. I popped in recently for a look, I didn’t have a sandwich this time but I can confirm the harissa eggs are very good, as is the Provence 75. Caravan are looking after the coffee and I had a good chat to the barista on the day, it sounds like that’s shaping up nicely too. I love that the reincarnated restaurant has the same vivid custom orange espresso machine and cute concrete bar, except stretched, all the way down the length of the long room and around in a loop to provide seating all around the central area.

I fully intend to return for evening, to try more of that extended menu and their delicious sounding wine list, they even have a wine refilling station.

Toasties and wine, a heavenly pairing? They are at Sager & Wilde.

I made sandwiches too. There was the love it or hate it deep fried avocado one, the pumpkin doughnut bacon one, the Boxing Day one and the haggis one to name a few that I’ve blogged. Trust me, I’ve eaten many more.

I don’t usually cast my eye back, have never done one of those end of year blog round ups, but well, this is a subject close to my heart and clearly to many of yours too.

My friend Helen has written a quite brilliant entire book on the subject that I highly recommend you take a look at.

The post Sandwiches – A Retrospective Post first appeared on The Faerietale Foodie.

One of my favourite places to take brunch these days is Salon in Brixton Village. I hear they do a cracking evening service but, well, brunch is where my heart is, and after a tough session at the gym, the likes of nduja strewn scrambled eggs on toast is just the thing. An nduja pain perdou was a stroke of genius and, as you can imagine, right up my street.

The setting is as pretty as a provincial picture; a well stocked bar dominates a room filled with wooden furniture, dusky blue walls, old bottles and dried flowers. I love that seating is upstairs, on a slightly wonky floor, above the bustle of the market, an airy room that matches the external eclectic chaos with an equally boisterous, if middle class, brunching crowd. Best spot in the house is at the far end of the room, next to the window for people and market peering.

They often declare of a weekend morning their ‘special’; one of nduja focaccia with roasted tomatoes speaks strongly to me often, but never at a time I’ve been available to catch it. Until I do, I’ve stolen the idea myself and rather than a focaccia stuffed with chunks of the spicy Calabrian sausage, as I assume they do, I’ve mixed swirls of the paste-like version into the dough itself. Fiery ribbons and seams of chilli strewn sausage paste that licks the dough with it’s orange tongue.

My first instinct was to serve with roasted tomatoes, sweet and blistered, a soft mozzarella and some smoky prosciutto. I ate it again for brunch the following day as a beast of a sandwich, filled with more roasted tomatoes, smashed avocado and an nduja fried egg. Oooof.

It’s definitely a recipe I’ll be making again.

Focaccia is a super quick and simple bread to make, this time I followed Paul Hollywood’s recipe as it was one of the first to pop up in Google, but it’s much the same as recipes I’ve used in the past with success.

For the Focaccia

• 40g olive oil plus extra
• 250g strong white bread flour
• 180g chilled water
• 5g salt
• 1 sachet fast action yeast
• Fresh Rosemary
• nduja paste – I use one from M&S’ foreign grocery section that comes in a small jar
• sea salt

Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast to one side and salt to the other.

Add the olive oil and then water slowly to incorporate all of the dough until you have a fairly wet, rough dough.

Lightly oil a work surface, turn the dough out and knead for 5-10 minutes until it starts to become smooth and elastic. It should still be quite wet and sticky so don’t panic and add lots of flour, just keep scraping down and cleaning your hands.

Once it has a smooth consistency, push a dip into the centre and dot a good tablespoon of nduja onto the top. Fold the corners of the dough roughly back into the centre, then repeat once more so the nduja starts to become ripples throughout the dough, but gently and stop before you get a completely orange mess! Pick it up gently and place into an oiled bowl, fold side facing down.

Cover and leave for 1 hour until doubled in size.

Oil a baking tray. Lift the dough carefully out of the bowl and very gently stretch it out before placing onto the tray and pushing it into shape without letting too much of the air escape.

Cover and leave for another hour to let it rise again.

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees. Push deep dimples evenly apart into the surface of the dough, drizzle liberally with olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary and flaked sea salt then bake for around 15 minutes until the surface is golden and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.

Allow to cool before serving.

The post N’duja Focaccia first appeared on The Faerietale Foodie.

I struggle with raw tomatoes in this country. Unless plucked directly from our allotment, still warm from the sun’s kiss and sweet from the caress of fresh air and goodness, they just don’t taste good; bitter, wet and sour to my palate.

Perhaps because I’ve tasted the tomatoes in Italy and France, somehow more full of flavour than anything I’ve tasted over here. Placebo maybe, when everything is blessed with that mediterranean sunshine. Or could it be that my cynical side takes over, having spent several months picking tomatoes in Bowen, Australia, I’ve seen the industrial side of production, the plucking of under ripe fruit, then storing and synthetically ripening in warehouses with chemicals rather than on the plants themselves.

At any rate, on the whole, I eat them grilled or roasted over here, blistered and charred. That is, of course, unless I find some outstanding specimens, in which case I’m more than happy to eat them as nature intended, accompanied with a creamy buffalo mozzarella, freshly picked basil and a good drizzle of olive oil.

Raw onion equally leaves me cold; I fear it’s aggressive bitterness, ditto raw pepper. For these reasons I find many raw salads too sharp and not wholly enjoyable. So, this is a sweet and mellow version of the classic panzanella salad, much more suited to my own tastes and a warming welcome as Autumn nudges Summer out of the way. I’d imagine silky, smoky aubergine would work really well with these charred vegetables, BBQ’d even better.

Basically anything you care to toss in, are particularly keen on or have wilting around the kitchen. Clearly I’ve also made versions spiked with nduja, but you guessed that, right? It makes a great little brunch dish topped with an egg, yolk perfectly ready to pop, spilling it’s richness onto the salad.

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More of an idea than a recipe, feel free to add or sub as you fancy and to your own tastes. I’m really not a fan of soggy bread, so mine has large croutons that are allowed to soften ever so slightly with the juices. Just not too much…

I haven’t put quantities here just some rough directions

Drizzle torn chunks of bread, of roughly equal size, liberally with olive oil, then toss with crushed garlic and put under the grill to toast.

Chop red onion, sweet red peppers and a mixture of tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and red wine vinegar, plenty of seasoning then put under the drill until they start to blacken, blister and turn soft.

I had some thick slices of crumbly finocchiona (fennel salami), so I fried this off a little in a pan whilst frying an egg.

Add croutons to the vegetables and their juices and the salami, toss together and top with the fried egg.

The post A Brunch Twist on Panzanella for the Onset of Autumn first appeared on The Faerietale Foodie.

My Friday baking session was prompted by an insatiable craving to make pretzels. I’m guessing this stems from my booking a trip to Berlin paired with a highly suggestible nature. Pretzels, the soft kind, have never held any sort of appeal to me. I mean, neither have the little hard ones, but thats a given due to my ambivalence towards hard snacks. I felt like I ought to like the soft kind, I mean – bread, but couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for a plain twist of it, neither deep fried, filled or doused in sugar and spices.

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Then I found myself with several hours to kill at Berlin airport with very little food options other than pretzels and/or sausages – I’m convinced these are the mainstays of a German diet – this was my moment. Crestfallen my pretzel came with no accompaniment than the paper napkin it was wrapped in, it’s safe to say I had low expectations.

Imagine my surprise then as I pulled off a piece. I tore through chewy skin into soft, yeasty bread, spiked aggressively with nuggets of salt. I couldn’t fathom how it could be so delicious or taste so uniquely of ‘pretzel’. Yet I continued to eat until there was none of the knotted bread left and my mouth stung from salt’s bite. Such a revelation was it that I immediately purchased another for my dinner when I went through to departures and cursed myself for discovering this new love just as I was leaving the country.

I knew I needed to make them myself. I also knew that despite having never made them before, a basic recipe would never inspire me and so I devised a, not too complicated, spin on a classic. That overwhelming saltiness paired with deep yeasty flavour notes had my head in a spin and was something I wanted to push further. Lardo leaves behind the same aggressively salty kiss but with porky silky sweetness, so I’ve added this in place of butter to enrich and push saltiness through the dough, topping with smoked salt to build layers of flavour.

I’m going to be honest here, I couldn’t be faffed to deal with the whole knotting technique, so little batons were good enough for me. I served them for dinner that evening with bratwurst and then again for breakfast with fruit, labne and a little truffle honey for pre gym indulgence – a versatile bread I’ll certainly make again.

Having not made them before, I stuck fairly strictly to the instructions on the BBC Good Food website for German Soft Pretzels

• Lardo & Smoked Salt Pretzels – Makes 8 batons
• 500g plain white flour
• 130g luke warm water
• 130g luke warm full fat milk
• 40g rendered lardo (or butter)
• half a tablespoon dark muscovado sugar
• 1 sachet fast action dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 litre water
• 3 tablespoons baking soda
• Halen Môn smoked salt

Put 100g of flour in a bowl with the yeast and water, cover with cling film and leave for 5 hours to develop a deep yeast flavour.

Finely dice a good chunk of lardo or fatty prosciutto and put into a pan in a medium heated oven until it renders down. Drain off and reserve the fat and also the remaining lardons.

Add remaining flour to yeast mixture with the sugar, salt, milk, rendered fat & lardons and knead until you get a firm and smooth dough. Leave covered for around an hour until doubled in size.

Knock back the dough and divide into 8 equal sized balls, then roll each into a sausage shape. Leave uncovered in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise again.

Boil water in a large saucepan and add the baking soda.

Place the risen pretzel batons near an open window with a cold breeze, or do what I did and blast them with a fan for a couple minutes, this helps them develop their skin and unique texture.

Drop the pretzels, one at a time, into the boiling liquid and fish out after around 5 second.

Lay them straight onto a baking tray lined with baking paper, sprinkle with smoked salt then cut deep slashes into the top of the dough.

Place into an oven pre heated to 200 degrees for around 15 minutes or until a deep brown.

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