Easy Sheet Pan Panini
Ingredients
- 1 loaf soft French or Italian bread, about 10 to 11 inches long
- Deli meat of choice, ham, roast beef, turkey, salami, etc
- Thin sliced cheese of choice, Swiss, cheddar, Pepper Jack, etc
- Sandwich toppings and sauces of choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Slice loaf of bread in half lengthwise and place the bottom half on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet.
- Top the bottom half with a layer of cheese followed by a layer of deli meat. Repeat those two layers.
- Place the top half of the bread back onto the sandwich and use another baking sheet to press down on the sandwich. Place a heavy pot or a pizza stone on top of the baking sheet to add weight and put the whole thing in the oven.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the sandwich is toasty warm and the cheese is melted. Carefully remove the pot or pizza stone (it will be hot!) and the top baking tray. Transfer the sandwich to a cutting board and cut into slices. The top half of the bread can be easily removed (since there's no cheese glueing it together) to add any additional toppings or sauces).
Notes
If you want to speed things up, you can take off the heavy pot (or pizza stone or whatever you used to weight it down) and the top sheet pan halfway through baking. The sandwich will be well-pressed at that point and can finish baking (just be aware that the crust may brown up a bit more if doing this).