Hey, You Want A Little Of My Sandwich Loaf?

By Caroline Clough in Food on Aug 14, 2006 3:24PM

A while back we reported on the illustrious Oprah Winfrey's love of a certain sandwich. This sandwich was just one of many Margaux Sky created for her restaurant, The Art Cafe and Bakery. Chicagoist was lucky enough to get a copy of Sky's new cookbook a few weeks back and we're finally getting why Oprah was so into Sky's cuisine. The cookbook features not only the 'O Special' but many other 'Beautiful Breads & Fabulous Fillings' thus the name of the cookbook. After paging through the slick pages of the cookbook, complete with scrumptious color photographs, we decided we were going to try our hand at one of Sky's Sandwich Loaves.

We're not going to lie to you. We were a little intimidated by Sky's book. But this fear was based soley on our total lack of experience with baking bread. But after looking through the twenty three bread recipes Sky includes in her book we realized what a creative opportunity baking could be. We, for one, had never even considered the possibility, say, of Peanut Butter-Chocolate Fudge Bread let alone Ginger-Goat Cheese Whole Wheat Bread. And when we came across the sandwich loaf section, well, we knew we had to try this out and share it with the likes of you. After perusing the eight varieties of sandwich loaves we went with the Manchego, Broccoli, Chicken Sandwich Loaf and now you can too!

To make a sandwich loaf is a two part process. First you must make the dough, then you must fill the dough and bake it. Sky uses her sweet dough recipe for all the sandwich loaves as well for her cinnamon rolls and other assorted pastries. Her exact recipe was for two batches of dough whereas we only needed one so, smartly, we cut the recipe in half for ourselves and for you.

What You Need For The Dough

1/2 tablespoon yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups all purpose flour
1/2 pinch of salt
2 bowls

What You Do To Make The Dough
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water and milk. Add the cream. Let stand for five minutes, or until the yeast is foamy.
2. Generously grease another bowl and put it to the side...this is going to be where the dough thinks about rising and then does.
3. Add the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla to the yeast mixture.
4. Slowly, very slowly, add the flour and salt to the wet ingredients and mix well.

5. Place the dough on a floured counter top or board and knead for 4 minutes.

6. Place the dough in the prepared bowl. Place the bowl in a warm, dry place and let the dough rise for 60 minutes.

What You Need For The Filling
4 tablespoons butter
4 cups diced chicken tenders
1 tablespoon Lawry's lemon pepper (Chicagoist ended up using, well, lemon juice and pepper)
3 cups broccoli florets
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sweet dried basil (we used some fresh basil as well, about one sprig)
3 cups manchego cheese
Juice of 1 lemon

What You Do To Make A Sandwich Loaf
1. In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-low heat.
2. Add the chicken tenders, lemon pepper and salt. Mix well and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through.
3. In another large skillet, melt the remaining butter over low heat. Add the broccoli and more lemon pepper and salt to taste. Mix well and cover.
4. Roll out the sweet dough so that the long side is perpedincular to your body. The dough should be only slightly thicker than paper thin. Spread the olive oil over the dough.

5. Sprinkle more lemon pepper and salt, as well as the basil, onto the dough.
6. Spread 2 cups of the cheese over the basil.
7. Add the chicken to the pan with the broccoli and mix well.

8. Spread the mixture over the dough and add the remaining cheese.
9. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the cheese.
10. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
11. Generously butter a large (really large) baking sheet.
12. With your hands, tightly roll the dough into a loaf, with the rolling action going away from your body. To hold in most of the fillings, fold the outer edges of the dough as you roll. Place the loaf onto the prepared baking sheet seam side down.

13. Bake 40 to 45 minutes.
14. Remove the loaf from the oven and let it cool 30 minutes before slicing.

Sky suggests serving the sliced loaf on a bed of greens with a slice of watermelon as garnish. We didn't have watermelon so we made due with just the greens. Our loaf was monstrously large in size and could easily serve ten to twelve people, just as Sky said it would. We worried, when the loaf came out of the oven, that we'd be eating it for the next month of our lives. Thankfully we had about six people come over and by the end of the night the loaf was almost gone. This is the perfect thing for a large scale picnic or casual get together with friends. We're already thinking about what our dream sandwich loaf would be and how easy it will be to make it.

Sky's cookbook also includes many different sauces and soups that seem equally tasty and inventive as this Sandwich Loaf turned out to be. Not a bad book to have lying around the kitchen. Not at all.