A Little History on the Bread

This is a copycat Schlotzsky’s Bread Recipe for a muffuletta style sandwich bun. The muffaletta or muffuletta is a large, round Silician bread often topped with sesame bread and served with cold cuts such as salami, ham, provolone or swiss cheeses. It’s a very large sandwich that can often feed a family on its own.

Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant grocery store owner created the muffuletta. Central Grocery first opened its doors in the heart of the French Quarter in 1906 and not much has changed since. Its first owner was Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian sandwich superhero who came up with the legendary muffuletta. The sandwich became an easier way to serve farmers who would stop by for a traditional Sicilian lunch where everything was eaten separately. Delicious, but not so great for portability #oldworldproblems. So Salvatore sliced open a whole loaf of his Sicilian sesame bread and stuffed everything inside.

This bread recipe is similar to the one used in a deli chain from Texas called Schlotzsky’s. Since the restaurant chain went out of business in our area, I started looking online for a recipe. Came across several that were very close but didn’t seem to have quite the same texture. By upping the water content, using less yeast and more salt, the flavor is much nicer and the texture is nearly spot on. Then we changed the instructions to make them even easier so you don’t even need a stand mixer.

What we love about this recipe is the fact you really don’t have to do a lot of work making the bread. No kneading, no shaping, no waiting around for hours for the bread to rise two times, just dollop it out into well greased pans and let the yeast do the work for you. Since these are large sandwiches usually, we are baking them in 6″ or 15 cm cake pans. You can use a pie pan or larger cake pan if that’s all you have on hand as well. It will actually look closer to the original. Remember, this is originally a huge sandwich!

The hardest part of the muffuletta is deciding whether or not it is proper to heat the sandwich or not. That’s a debate for another time. Let’s get to baking a copycat of the muffuletta, Schlotzsky’s Bread Recipe which is also a copycat recipe. That’s a mouthful! Just like this sandwich bread.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Below, we will show you the process to making this fun recipe. You don’t even need to knead the dough. It’s all about patience.

Step 1: Prepare the Pans

Spray two 6″ (15cm) pans with cooking spray or shortening. Do not use spray on non stick surfaces.

Alternatively, you can use one 9″ (23cm) pan.

Sprinkle the bottom with cornmeal. This is optional. This will help the bread release from the pan and gives a little crunch.

Step 2: Prepare the Dough

Add the yeast, baking soda and salt to a large bowl.

Add in warm water. You can use hot tap water.

Warm the milk to 105F (41C) or lukewarm and add it to the bowl.

Finally, add in the flour.

Now stir it with the handle of a spoon until it comes together into a shaggy dough.

It will be a very sticky dough. This is what makes the big air pockets in the bread.

Step 3: Rest the Dough

Divide the dough equally between two pans.

Or put all the dough in one if using a large pan.

Then cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray or coated with oil to prevent sticking.

Once you have the dough covered, allow it to sit for one hour or until it at least doubles in sizes and fills out the pan.

Basically, you really want to allow that dough to rise as close to the top without it collapsing.

Step 4: Bake the Dough

After that, remove the plastic wrap, carefully transfer to the oven to avoid collapsing and bake.

Once the dough is in the oven, allow it to bake for 20 minutes for a light golden brown.

Conversely, you could bake the dough 25 minutes for a darker crust.

Remove the bread from the pan to a cooling rack for at least one hour before serving.

Once you remove the bread to the cooling rack, it must cool completely. Otherwise, the insides will be gummy and wet tasting.

The ones baked longest have a lovely golden crust.

These were baked for 22 minutes. All of these baking times are both beautiful and tasty!

Once cool, carefully slice open like a hamburger bun.

Further, the crumb should look like this. It is airy and also full of holes.

Finally, fill it with your favorite deli meat and cheeses. What will you put on your sandwich?

Substitutions and Tips

Here are some common substitutions and tips for this easy bread recipe.

• Try using 1/2 whole wheat flour for both added nutrients and fiber.
• Heating the milk isn’t necessary, but it significantly speeds up the time needed to rest the dough.
• You can double the salt for more flavor, but it will slow down the rising of the dough.
• Fat-free, 2%, whole milk or buttermilk can be all be used for this recipe. Whole milk will give the richest flavor, but fat-free tastes excellent!
• Yes you can use soy, almond or other milk substitutes for this recipe. You may need to add 1 – 2 tablespoons more flour (9-18g) as milk substitutes are often thinner than cow’s milk.

Storage

Freshly baked bread is always best eaten the day you make it as it doesn’t have a long shelf life. However, these will keep 2-3 days before they go stale. Let the bread cool completely and store in an airtight container or plastic bag to stay soft. If you want the crust to be more like the day you baked them, store in a paper sack or bread bin.

This bread can be frozen up to 1 month, but it is best to eat the bread fresh. Store in an air tight container or freezer safe bag for best results. Frozen baked bread can be reheated in the oven at 350F (180C) for 10 – 15 minutes.

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