Panini Express: 70 Delicious Recipes Hot off the Press

Panini are little sandwiches that are put through a press that warms up the filling and gives the bread a delicious grilled flavor. Ten years ago, you would have had to get on a plane and gone to Italy to enjoy one, but today you can find panini everywhere—in Italian restaurants, restaurant chains like Panera, even higher-end supermarkets are selling panini in their take-out foods sections. Because its popularity, the panini press (think a small George Foreman Grill) has become the hottest selling small appliance on the market. Everyone is selling them. Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table carry brands like LeCreuset, All-Clad, and Krups, while Target sells a Hamilton Beach model for less than $50 and Wal-Mart a Breadman version for $39.95.
"Panini Express" contains easy recipes for 70 deliciously different sandwiches you can make using your panini press. "Panini Express" does not confine itself only to authentic Italian Panini recipes, but instead will explore a world of flavors (like the Catskill Cubano with ham, turkey, Swiss, and a hoisin-lime dressing). In addition to the sandwich recipes, there are recipes for four homemade breads if you want your sandwiches completely from scratch, as well as for mayonnaises, spreads, and other tasty sandwich slathers to up the flavor quotient.

Featuring more than 70 easy recipes for deliciously different sandwiches, "Panini Express" also includes recipes for four homemade breads as well as for mayonnaises, spreads, and other tasty sandwich toppers.

Judith Sutton

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Leader is a well-known artisan baker and author of two bread-baking books. Soon after he opened his bakery, Bread Alone, in Woodstock, NY, he started offering some of the "baker's sandwiches" he had discovered during his travels to Europe, and his new book provides recipes for his mouthwatering panini, along with delicious condiments, and five bread recipes for those who want to start from scratch. He favors a minimalist approach, with simple but flavorful combinations such as Tuscan Chicken with Artichokes and White Beans and Grilled Asparagus, Taleggio, and Prosciutto. Interestingly, he uses a panini press not just for toasting the sandwiches but also for cooking ingredients such as the grilled asparagus. A good companion to Jennifer and Jason Denton's panini cookbook, Simple Italian Sandwiches, this is recommended for most collections.

Lauren Chattman attended Peter Kump's Cooking School, apprenticed at Restaurant Daniel in New York, and was pastry chef at Nick and Toni's in Easthampton, Long Island. Lauren lives in Sag Harbor, Long Island.

Daniel Leader is the owner and baker of the Bread Alone Bakery in New York's Catskill Mountains. Dan's food career began when, nine months short of his undergraduate philosophy degree from the University of Wisconsin, he realized his need to work with his hands as well as his mind. He enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, graduated at the top of his class, and, worked as a chef for some of New York City's hottest restaurants, La Grenouille and the Water Club. Then, after eight years of cooking food "too fancy to eat," he became obsessed with the idea of creating something wholesome, timeless, and beautiful. Great bread and Bread Alone were born. Dan lives in Boiceville, New York, with his wife, Sharon, and four children, Liv, Nels, Octavia, and Noah.

Ellen Silverman's photographs appear regularloy in magazines such as Eating Well and Food & Wine, and she has photographed numerous cookbooks and cookbook covers. She maintains a studio in New York.