No Knead Italian Panini Bread Recipe

Italian panini bread rolls in cloth bread bag.

No Knead Italian Panini Bread Recipe

Make your own crusty Italian rolls with this easy no knead panini bread recipe! Enjoy filled with your favorite sandwich ingredients.

Course Bread

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Italian panini bread for sandwiches

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 25

Resting time 1 2 30

Servings panini

Calories 252kcal

Author Nadia Fazio

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour plus extra for handling the dough
1 tsp. active dry yeast
1½ cups water heated until lukewarm
1½ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. olive oil

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare the dough

In a large bowl, use a wooden spoon to stir together the flour and yeast.
Heat water until lukewarm and stir into the dry ingredients. When the water is incorporated stir in the salt. Lastly, stir in the olive oil.
The dough will be quite wet and have a shaggy appearance, this is normal. Cover and let rise for a minimum of 6 hours or up to 24 hours at room temperature.
After this rising period it will be bubbly.
Generously flour your hands and gently lift the dough from the sides of the bowl, tuck it underneath to shape into a ball. Do not attempt to knead the dough!
Place it back in the same bowl, cover and let rest for one hour.This step is crucial as it will make the dough easier to handle in the next step.

Shape the panini

Dump the dough onto a generously floured surface. Use a knife or bench scraper to divide the dough into 6 pieces.
You may eyeball this or use a kitchen scale to divide the dough equally into roughly 140 gram pieces. Shape the dough into balls, cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
Gently flatten each ball into roughly a 5 inch circle or oval shape. Apply gentle pressure to avoid deflating the dough.
Roll each flattened circle of dough into a cylinder. Place on a baking sheet. Cover and let rise one more hour.
Meanwhile preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place a pan of water on the lowest rack in the oven. Place your middle baking rack as close to the bottom of your oven as possible, just above the pan with the water.
Score each panini using a sharp knife or bead lame. Do not make the incision too deep as you don't want to deflate the panini.
Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown on top and golden underneath.
Let cool completely before serving.

Notes

Substitutions and Variations:

-Replace up to 1 cup of white flour with whole wheat flour.
-Make round panini instead of oval shaped. After the dough is shaped into balls, let rise one hour, then score the buns before baking.
-The dough may be divided into 8 pieces for small panini or into 4 pieces for submarine (or hoagie) rolls.

Serving suggestions:

-Use this bread to make traditional panini stuffed with coldcuts and cheese.
-Try my pane cunzatu recipe, a traditional Sicilian sandwich.
-For a vegetarian option, fill with marinated roasted vegetables.

Storage:

Store at room temperature, for up to 2 days for the best texture, well wrapped in a plastic bag; cloth bread storage bag or bread box.

To Freeze:

Place, well wrapped, in a freezer safe container for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature. They may be warmed in the oven before serving.

Nutrition