Schlotzsky CopyCat Bread & Sandwiches

Schlotzsky CopyCat Bread

It seems that we often end up eating out at sandwich shops. Most of what we order could be done at home, which got me to thinking about why we still go out for sandwiches. I concluded it's probably largely about good bread and decided to try and break through the store bought rut. Decided to start with a "Schlotzsky Copy-Cat" with fairly edible results. Here are the instructions from this recipe and some photos of the two seperate times we have made it so far:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast
• 3/4 cup lukewarm milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour ( all-purpose will work)
• cornmeal

Directions

1. Stir water, sugar and yeast together and set aside.
2. Dissolve baking soda in 1/2 tablespoon warm water in medium bowl.
3. Add warm milk, salt and 1 cup flour; beat till smooth.
4. Beat in yeast mixture and remaining flour (batter will be thick and sticky, but not as thick as normal bread batter).
5. Spray two pie pans with cooking spray and dust with cornmeal.
6. Divide dough and place in pie pans, cover and let rise for 1 hour.
7. Preheat oven to 375ºF and bake for 20 minutes till golden.
8. Cool 1 hour and cut in fourths.

Using the only pans I had on hand- springform cake pans in varied sizes- gave me a good idea of how much dough to use to create individual sized sandwiches in Bath 2 

Though it ripped, early signs fresh out of the oven pointed towards the texture we were  trying for. 

One of the smaller loaves, with cheddar & strawberry preserves

Using only the sandwich makings we had on hand (not the called for "Original" ingredients, per se) still made for a  tasty sandwich 

The largest loaf made a sandwich for the 3 Big Kids. 

~~~ SECOND BATCH~~~

(this time I substituted about half the flour with whole grain white wheat) 

Used an Ice Cream Sandwich pan this time for smaller, more individual sized portions

Though the cavities in that pan are square, the portions rounded themselves while rising. 

Quality Control Sample
(Rule #1: must be sampled while butter can melt)

Individual sandwich portions

Sandwiches constructed with (most of)  the ingredients found in Schlotzsky's Original

Schlotzsky CopyCat Sandwich

(In addition to the copycat recipe, you can follow the sandwich recipe found here. )

We made a 'close enough' version using a Blimpie Sub Kit from the Deli in lieu of some of the types of salami that we could not find. And Sub Sandwich Dressing instead of the Creamy Garlic in the interest of time. We had the veggies available as options~ but no one wanted to wait for an onion to be sliced, nor a tomato... but next time... and there WILL be a next time... we won't veer off course.