Sandwiches Basic sandwiches are fillings placed or sandwiched between two slices of bread, cut from a loaf of finely

textured bread. Sandwiches are a popular meal throughout the world. Whilst sandwiches are usually served at lunch, they can be found on menus at all kinds of restaurants for breakfast, lunch, dinner or just as a snack. They can be served cold or at room temperature. Variations include; hot bread with hot or cold fillings, and cold bread with hot or cold fillings. There is a huge range of classic and contemporary sandwiches available and the possibilities for sandwich combinations are endless. The basic ingredients of sandwich production are the bread, the spread, the filling and the loading. Spread Butter or margarine are the most common spreads used in sandwich making. Mayonnaise, other dairy products, and some well-flavoured oils may also be used. Using a spread, protects the bread from moist fillings and adds flavour and improves the mouth feel of the sandwich. The spreads that are commonly used in sandwiches are butter and margarine, which have a high fat content. There is a growing trend for people to avoid eating fatty food and who prefer not to eat butter or margarine. Where sandwiches are being made to order, a choice of spread should be offered to customers. There is a simple way of reducing the fat content of spreads and making them easier to spread is to cream butter together with tepid water. This is also a cost saving measure. Butter will absorb at least its own weight in water. Add water in a gentle stream to soft butter in a mixer bowl and paddle slowly as they combine. This will keep for one service so estimate how much will be required for a service period and discard any left overs. Spreads must be portioned correctly for the estimated or required amount using standard recipes wherever possible.

Spreads are generally applied using a broad bladed knife or plain or cranked palette knife. Filling Fillings are the main ingredients of sandwiches. Fillings include sliced, grated, and pureed ingredients. There is usually a main ingredient in a sandwich such as protein-based commodities like meat, poultry, fish, nuts, cheeses or pulses.

The main ingredient of a sandwich is usually accompanied by extra ingredients called the loading. This, for example, would be the salad in a ham and salad sandwich. The loading should compliment the main ingredient, or provide a contrast in texture, colour, shape and taste. Fillings must be sliced ahead of service and production times. For cut sandwiches, thinner slices are better for portioning and assembling. All ingredients in sandwiches should be uniformly sized. Once sliced, most commodities are highly perishable and should be stored portioned in smaller amounts so that large amounts are not sitting in the danger zone in the production area. Combinations of sandwich ingredients follow similar patterns to those that you might use in a meal. Attention to hygiene and correct cookery methods is essential. Sandwiches should not be viewed as an opportunity to use up sub-standard commodities. Standardised prepared products such as square sandwich ham, and pre-sliced smallgoods and cheeses can be helpful in mass production and may suit very small operations where staff costs must be minimised. If you are using meats and cheeses in your sandwich, you

should always slice them thinly. To do this, it is best to use a slicer. To slice meat you should decide how thick the cut should be based on the recipe.

Sandwiches are one of my favourite foods. They are great as a snack, for lunch or as a light dinner. But make sure you don't limit your customers to a plain old chicken and salad sandwich. Let's have a look at all the different types of sandwiches available. The four main types of sandwiches are:

cut sandwiches open sandwiches rolled sandwiches filled loaves.

Ribbon and Domino sandwiches are made with alternate slices of brown (wholemeal, or rye) and white breads stacked from six up to ten layers high cut through the layers into striped slices and then reassembled so that the slices are arranged end on in a chequer board pattern or in stripes.

Cut sandwiches generally consist of bread from square sectioned loaves in:

Special named varieties of sandwich include: Club Toast, chicken, bacon lettuce and tomato. Toasted bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

white wholemeal multigrain.

BLT

Generally these loaves make slices that are about 10 X 10 cm, weigh between 600-800g each. A general

Bookmaker Toast, grilled minute steak, mustard,

loaf yields between 20 and 23 slices not including the crust. Sandwiches may be two slices with fillings, three slices with more fillings, assembled and cut into triangles, fingers or ribbons, circles, crust on or off, toasted, pressed, pinned together, cut long or rolled and cut into pinwheels. Specialised types of cut sandwiches include: Conventional sandwiches that are crust on or off, cut in squares or triangles.

pressed together.

The Russian Scandinavian tradition of eating bread topped with fresh and preserved ingredients may use sliced breads, or flat breads both of which are Rye based. Irregularly shaped breads are ideal for open sandwiches to provide variety and contrast to regular squared loaves. In Denmark open sandwiches are a national institution. In Denmark and the surrounding countries open sandwiches are known as Smrrebrd (Smura-brurd); these are the origin of canaps which are a French adaption of the open sandwich.

Nowadays any sliced or substantial flat bread Tea sandwiches which are or cracker bread can be used as a base for also referred to as finger or Pullman open sandwiches. Variations on this theme sandwiches which are made up with can be found in other cultural traditions where more delicate and usually moist unleavened dough is formed into crisp breads ingredients generally between three by baking or frying, in India there are slices of bread. The bread may be cut pappadums, in Central America there are fried conventionally or to speed corn based tortillas and totopos for example. production the cut may be Pizzas could be seen as a variation on this lengthways. The crusts are removed theme. and the sandwiches are cut into triangles fingers or squares.

Pinwheel sandwiches are a tea

Soft flat breads have their origins in the Mediterranean, India, and Central America where traditionally breads are hand formed and baked rapidly on hot surfaces. Foodstuffs are eaten using these breads as dippers or scoops or placed on them and rolled up to be

sandwich prepared using bread slices sliced longways form a conventional square loaf which have a substantial well flavoured spread or soft filling. The spread slices are rolled up tightly, covered and rested under refrigeration to set. When set they are cut into slices for service. Pinwheel sandwiches may be served with other sandwiches or as cold canaps.

eaten. Contemporary examples of these are Souvlakia, Shwerma, Doner kebab and Felafel rolls. The Precision cut pinwheel sandwich is also a rolled sandwich.

Cocktail sandwiches are a canap for service at a cocktail function. They are held together with a cocktail skewer or toothpick to keep them together and to make eating easier.

There are many variations on the theme of splitting a whole loaf and placing a filling inside to be eaten whole, torn apart, or portioned by cutting. Filled rolls and hamburgers are examples of this and too are "Pan Bagna" (pang-bann-ya) which is a loaf of (usually) French bread sliced and filled with a variety of moist fillings, closed and pressed, and left for a little time to set and then sliced for service.

Toasting People enjoy the flavour and texture of toast and toasted sandwiches. Toasting changes the colour of the bread to rich golden browns and produces sweet and complex flavours. There are a number of toasted sandwich types including open and closed sandwiches with toasted bread, jaffles, focaccia, and some souvlaki. Toasting, made up sandwich types, is generally completed in a sandwich press or a flat top grill or griddle may be used. Sandwich grills, toasters, or presses generally have two hot

plates that are joined on one side with a double-jointed hinge so that different sized sandwiches may be accommodated. The top plate is quite heavy so the same pressure is applied during toasting. For toasting on a flat top grill, a metal brick can be kept on the grill so that it is always hot and this can be placed on top of the sandwich to be toasted. For occasional or small production of toast from sliced bread, a conventional toaster with multiple slots may be suitable. For other toasting a salamander, either gas or electric is most versatile for general use. For continuous or substantial production, a tunnel toaster with a moving conveyor belt is ideal. Jaffles are a "pie" with a bread casing; they require "jaffle irons" which are a specialised sandwich press that is curved to allow space for a filling and seals the sandwich on the edges as it toasts.

Cleaning It is important to clean toasting equipment at the end of each service or production batch or more regularly if needed. The build-up of toast crumbs and other debris can be a fire hazard, will attract pests, and can smell bad if not removed regularly. Whilst grease and oil should be cleaned off, when using detergent on the surface of contact grills (including sandwich presses, jaffle irons, and flat top grills) they should be left lightly oiled after use to keep some non-stick properties. Some grilling equipment is non-stick Teflon coated and only suitable plastic tools should be used with these.

Storing sandwiches Most sandwiches are perishable goods. Sandwiches which are made up with moist fillings are highly perishable but if they are well covered they may be refrigerated for a few hours without substantial staling. When storing ingredients for sandwiches and finished sandwiches make sure you regard them as highly perishable. It is essential to stringently apply hygienic food handling principles to the storage and preparation of sandwiches. The following must be taken into account.

Always use fresh bread. The risk of cross contamination is always present with these foods so work hygienically at all times. Sandwiches are highly perishable. Ingredients must be closely tracked at each stage of the production process to ensure that each ingredient is handled correctly. Ingredients must be fresh, freshly prepared, held at below 50C, prepared in batches related to production requirements, and kept for the minimum amount of time possible between receival and service. Storing bread Bread becomes stale when incorrectly stored or if it is stored too long. Bread should never be refrigerated as this speeds the staling process. Fresh bread may be frozen (rapidly) and used for toasting or other purposes such as crumbs, panada, etc but may be used for sandwiches in some circumstances (See activity four, storage of sandwiches).