Oroweat® approached me recently with an offer to try out their new organic bread and to host my own little sandwich making party. It was just after Thanksgiving when Jake, S, my dad and I got together in the kitchen to make a few panini’s for lunch using Thanksgiving leftovers. What else were we going to do with all of that leftover turkey?!
Oroweat has two new organic breads out: a 100% Whole Wheat bread along with a Grains and Seeds bread.
First thing I did was caramelize a whole mess of onions. I think onions make a huge difference for any meal. Just about everything I make has onions in it in some way. I understand people not digging raw onions (I love them raw or cooked – does that make me weird?) but caramelizing them brings out the onion’s natural sweetness and I felt that would be perfect for some sandwiches.
Sous Chef S was watching and learning that day. I showed him how to use the panini press with the first sandwich and let him do the rest.
Apparently I do this thing where I stuck out my tongue a little when I’m “in the zone”. Oy. Here I’m putting some brie cheese on top of some turkey and caramelized onions.
Pressing time!
Pure shenanigans.
My dad is telling S about the fine art of buttering bread.
Here’s a little closeup of one of the sandwiches. I didn’t put enough brie on my sandwich so you can’t really even see the oozy cheese. This was a great way to use up some leftovers. If we had cranberry sauce I might have stuck that in here as well, but no one in our house eats that stuff so we don’t even bother.
Carefully cutting the sandwiches!
Why does his top piece look so flat?? I have no idea, but I’m also pretty sure this one has some cheese melted on the outside of the bread. Crazy!
Overall for the Oroweat organic breads I thought they were pretty good, though I preferred the Oroweat Whole Wheat over the Oroweat Grains and Seeds bread. I wasn’t super fond of the little “chunks” of stuff in grains and seeds bread, which made me feel like there were twigs, berries and other stuff way too wholesome for me stuck in there.
The whole wheat bread had a nice almost nutty flavor to it and tasted like a darker, molasses based bread. The whole wheat bread is made actually made with molasses and raisin juice (I’m ignoring that fact), adding a bit to the sweetness component. Mostly what I love is that there’s no high fructose corn syrup in the organic breads – hooray!
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- olive oil
- 2 slices Oroweat® Bread
- butter
- turkey, in chunks (or slices if using deli meat)
- brie cheese (in thin slices)
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Add sliced onions and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 20-30 minutes until a golden, caramelized color. Rotate in the pan every 5-10 minutes. Cook more at once for leftover caramelized onions for other dishes!
- Preheat panini press.
- Butter one side of each slice of bread. Add buttered slice down to your panini press. Add chunks of leftover turkey (or turkey slices). Add sliced brie. Add caramelized onions to cover slice of bread. Add other slice of bread, buttered side up. Press sandwich. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. Remove from press and cut in half. Serve immediately.
Someone was watching us intently while the sandwich making was going on and hoping dearly for some turkey bits.
In addition to the sandwiches I also made a pot of melted cheese for nachos.
Nachos and sandwiches! Who could say no to that?
In addition to the turkey sandwiches and nachos, I did a little experimenting with some “rolled” sandwiches. I used the Oroweat Country White bread instead for these test sandwiches.
I cut the crusts off and then rolled the bread flat with a rolling pin.
One slice of sharp cheddar and one slice of provolone are added and then the bread is tightly rolled. These are then cooked in butter over medium heat and carefully turned and turned until golden brown.
You get this golden brown crust and some really oogy gooey cheese. The whole outside is super crisp and the combination of the cheeses blend together nicely. Any good combination of easy melting cheeses could be good here. Compacting the sandwich into a little roll makes for an intensey cheesy experience.
Goodness, look at that oozing, melty cheese!
- 2 slices Oroweat Country White bread
- 2 slices provolone cheese
- 2 slices sharp cheddar cheese
- 1-2 tablespoons butter
- Cut crusts off the bread. Roll flat with a rolling pin.
- Lay 1 slice of each type of cheese on top of the bread. Cut off any overhanging cheese.
- Carefully and tightly roll up the bread. Repeat with other slice of bread.
- Heat a pan over medium heat and add butter. When butter is sizzling and warm, add rolled bread seam side down into the butter.
- Carefully turn the rolled bread, making sure to griddle/cook all sides of the bread until golden brown and the cheese has melted.
- Remove from pan and consume. Do a little happy dance for cheese joy.
I decided I’d also try this method for a dessert sandwich: peanut butter and chocolate rolls! I don’t know why I decided to call these rolls instead of sticks. Let’s just go with it. Similar method: no crusts, flattened and rolled out with a spread of crunchy peanut butter and a row of chocolate chips (I always use Guittard myself). Putting the chocolate chips near the end of one side helps to roll these nicely and keep the chocolate in the middle.
Roll and then grill again in a pan of hot butter…
The peanut butter gets melted and helps melt the chocolate which then creates this salty center with a touch of sweetness. While we were eating these I got the notion to add a little sprinkle of powdered sugar which gave it that extra touch of sweetness it needed to cut through the peanut butter. The powdered sugar really made a difference, but you can leave it off it you want to.
- 2 slices Oroweat Country White Bread
- 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
- chocolate chips
- 1-2 tablespoons butter
- powdered sugar (optional)
- Cut crusts off the bread. Roll flat with a rolling pin.
- Spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter over one slice of bread. Add one row of chocolate chips near the shorter edge of the bread.
- Carefully and tightly roll up the bread. Repeat with other slice of bread.
- Heat a pan over medium heat and add butter. When butter is sizzling and warm, add rolled bread seam side down into the butter.
- Carefully turn the rolled bread, making sure to griddle/cook all sides of the bread until golden brown and the peanut butter has melted.
- Remove from pan. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar. Eat and express happiness.
The coupons for free product, information, and gift card have been provided by Oroweat® so that I could try the product and share my thoughts and information about Oroweat® Organic bread. All opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions of Oroweat®.
I prefer the Oroweat potato bread cuz I don’t really care for all those extra nuts and grains all over the crust. Go soft and fluffy! I recently made yummy bacon cheese rollups that disappeared FAST at my party. Didn’t even know some people rolled the bread first for these kinds of things! Good job with the recipes.
Hi Lynn – Yeah, I wasn’t really caring for the extra bits in my bread. White or Potato bread is good for most things! Mmm, bacon cheese rollups sound awesome!