Crispy Steak Paninis with Gooey Fontina Cheese - Quick & Easy Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

How to make a crunchy panini? ›

For maximum crunch.

Brush melted butter or olive oil on the outside of the bread, and if you're including "wet" ingredients like tomatoes, layer them in the center of the sandwich with meats and/or cheeses on either side so they don't drown the bread.

Grilling: A panini is always grilled or toasted, while a sandwich can be served cold or hot. The grilling process for panini gives the bread a crispy texture and also warms up the filling, which is often made up of deli meats, cheese, and vegetables.

A panini is a grilled sandwich with Italian bread, such as ciabatta. It's usually served warm, filled with deli meats and cheeses, and cut horizontally. Paninis are notable for their crispy exteriors, warm interiors, and grill marks.

These include ciabatta, focaccia, rye, French, and sourdough. But no matter which bread you use, your slices should always be about a ½-inch thick. If you use slices that are thicker than that, you'll taste way too much bread when you bite into your panini.

Place the cheese between the slices of bread. Coat the outside of the bread with either the butter or mayonnaise. Carefully place the sandwich in the panini maker and press the lid down, gently enough so that it doesn't completely smoosh the sandwich but enough that both sides are touching the heated grates.

Well, a panino in Italy is just a sandwich, panini being the plural. They come in hundreds of varieties, just like in the U.S., but they are usually very simple. No widespread use of sauces, mountains of ingredients or “build your own” variety in most cases.

The big difference with toasties or toasted sandwiches is the type of bread that is used for a panini, which isn't a sliced, soggy sandwich slice, but real italian bread like ciabatta (uncut). Panini's have made a world-wide breakthrough and for a good reason.

But when it comes to panini, mayo is simply better than softened butter. For one, there's no putzing around while the butter softens. And two, the browning is so much better.

Each sandwich contains about 479 calories, 17 g fat (6 g saturated fat, no trans fat, 66 mg cholesterol), 539 mg sodium, 48 g carbohydrate, 4 g dietary fiber, 4 g sugars, and 31 g protein.

To prevent sogginess a good buttering is required. The butter on the inner slices of the bread prevent any other watery condiments or filling from seeping through. Forevermore think of butter on sandwiches as a moisture barrier. Plus butter really does make sandwiches taste better.

How do you keep a sandwich crispy? ›

Toast one side of your bread to keep your sandwich crunchy

Creating a crusty barrier will help stop liquids from seeping into the bread, which is perfect for recipes that require a lot of saucy elements. The toasted sides also provide a nice, smooth surface on which to apply your condiments.

Close your sandwich and butter the outsides of the bread.

Make sure you don't overfill your panini by too much or the inside of the sandwich won't warm properly when cooking. You can also use margarine.