Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are 2 posts racing each other in my head at the moment, & I’ve got to panini first. The other one is about herbs, thyme & oregano, which I shall write about soon. Made Panini Rolls a couple of days ago, which I had saved off Nic’s blog @ Cherrapeno last year when she had posted them for Zorra’s World Bread Baking Day. I’ve been wanting to make them for a while, but while winter was here, all yeastly tales were done away with…
Now with spring here, birds chirping, butterflies whizzing around, I’m back to my beloved bread experiments, & decided to make panini rolls. As usual, nothing can be achieved without a little action! I tend to enter into a virtual conversation with Nic whenever I visit her place on the net, & get stupidly distracted. It happened with the Cappuccino Muffins the last time, & with no lessons learnt, happened again this time…but not without redemption! I think it’s overconfidence. First I read the flour as 5oz (the 1lb disappeared while I was reading, I swear it wasn’t there, believe me). Measured 5 oz of flour & wondered how in the world I would get 10 rolls out of 5oz. Back to Nic’s & then I saw 1lb 5oz mysteriously appear in front of my eyes. Gasp, that was a close call!
Message to new bread bakers & less experienced ones like me…learn from my mistakes please. Read the recipe at least thrice, & then set off. I even forgot the olive oil altogether in my hurry to get the dough done. With few modifications & distractions of the ‘Cherrapeno types’, my ‘fat-free’ panini rolls finally got underway…LOL!!
Now I’m calling these pitanini rolls for a reason. Nic mentioned that the rolls have to be ‘fairly thin’, & you can roll them if you like. ‘I like’… so I begin rolling them. Hmmmm …words began forming in the mind again, “Is this fairly thin? Will it rise & become rolly polly?” With this insane conversation taking over my grey matter, I continued rolling with my idea of fairly thin.
I think they became fairly too thin, did rise, but not enough to become rolls. I gave them a milk wash (I cannot do egg wash because of my eggphobia), & sprinkled the tops with oats/sesame seeds. They puffed up nicely & rose in the oven, were a little flat, but had pockets within! Thus ‘Panini roll +Pita pockets = Pitanini roll’ was born by the time we reached sandwich stage!! I substituted a portion of flour with oat flour & some whole wheat flour in the dough, & the result was delicious. 
A panino is a sandwich made from a small loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta. The loaf is often cut horizontally and filled with salami, ham, meat, cheese or other food, and sometimes served hot. A grilled panino is buttered on the outside and grilled in a press. The word “panino” is Italian (literally meaning small bread roll), with the plural panini. “Panini” is often used in a singular sense by speakers of English and French. In Italian, panino refers properly to a bread roll and a “panino imbottito” (literally “stuffed panino”) to a sandwich. 
PITANINI ROLLS
Ingredients:
300gms flour
1 tbsps active dried yeast (That’s the only sort I had)
Method:
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Put all the dry ingredients together & mix well. Add the water, about 350ml to begin with, & knead to a soft smooth dough, adding more water as required. Knead well for 5-7 minutes.
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Divide the dough into 10, & make rolls out of them, flatten to about an inch for rolls, or 1/2 an inch for pitaninis, & leave on baking sheet to rise until double.
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Brush with milk or beaten egg (optional), sprinkle on some rolled oats or sesame seeds (optional), and bake in a pre-heated oven 180C for about 14-16 minutes until golden brown.
For the pitanini/panini/sandwich…
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Split each roll horizontally, fill with whatever stuffing you fancy. I used chopped up Balsamic Herb Marinated Grilled Chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, a dash of mayo & mozarella. You can use cottage cheese chunks with roasted veggies in there too.
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The mozarella is a local brand that I’ve used for the first time, Flanders, & was very good indeed. I’ve used their mascarpone just recently in Balsamic Strawberries with Whipped Mascarpone, but the texture & taste of the mascarpone was a little disappointing. On the other hand, their mozarella is quite the best I’ve tried locally.
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I grilled my sandwiches on a grill pan after a brush of olive oil (not buttah!!). Since I don’t own a panini press, I weighed the sandwich down with a heavy something, grilled it for 5-7 minutes, turned it over & grilled the other side too. Was delicious!!
This is off to Susan @ Wild Yeast for her ongoing event Yeastspotting, 
This is so weird because I was going to make some pita bread this week!
I love the name, good one!!
They might be a bit thinner than mine, they look wider than I roll them. But oh! Look at that filling – I’m a melty cheese drooler, I can’t help it… LOVE it!!!
Thank you for trying these Deeba.
Ha ha I too just posted a bread in my place just now and then i saw your post in my reader.
You may call what ever you want they look absloutley delicius and that sandwitch, that is just pefect.
Wish I had them for my dinner as weekdays dinner we always have bread.
Just drooling over the melting cheese sandwich…Gorgeous bread…
Gorgeous bread!
nice creation, I’ve tasted pita and panini separately and have loved it; wish i was there to taste the pitaninis! looks yummy with mozzarella and lovely clicks of the flowers with the butterfly on!
Gorgeous and Perfect -yet you say you are inexperienced?YOU ARE TRULY PROFESSIONAL .
If I had atleast an oz of baking skills as yours I would have been sooooooooooo proud of myself.
KEEP UP THE GOOD JOB-the pitanini has come out great
well those look pretty damn good for someone who is inexperienced! hello!
I always love and enjoy your photos.
I am so hungry for fresh bread. This is a lovely item, Deeba. I was thinking as I was reading, ‘I sure hope she sends this to Susan’…lol…I will enjoy seeing it featured twice. 🙂 First in your lovely post, and then again at wildyeast.
Kudos to you!
pitanini.. how clever! i love having paninis but the pitanini would save me some carbs! lol.. and your pitaninis are a beauty.
wow your pitas look yummy.perfect for curry too 🙂
Thick or thin or whatever u plan to call them:-) they look great ! Nothing like fresh baked bread at home.
They turned out great! The sandwiches look delicious! I love your play on words.
Oh I’m looking for a Pita bread recipe. But this works fine too. I can make them small and use them as appetizers no?
Wow I could use this for dinner…very, very nice. And the bread turned out so good!
The bread looks perfect and those sandwiches are very tempting…
Delicious sounding bread my dear. And oh, you have beautiful butterfly in your garden….
Cheers,
elra
He..he..Pitanini, sounds very tempting, and I’m craving for the sanwich now….yum:)
This is something i’ve never had the guts to try – bread…..
WOW!!! the sandwich looks fabulous 🙂
used to have panini with lettuce and everything for lunch. nice looking bread, Deeba.
this bread look so awesome and even fantastic when having those melted cheese
It certainly looks fantastic to me, hybrid or not. Maybe it counts as a piadina? 😛 I can’t resist a good flatbread!
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM….The bred looks fanatastic!!! MMMMMMMMMM…..
Wow, not only fat free but with wholemeal flour too. These sound really healthy. The mozzarella and roast veggie filling sound tempting too.
Wow nice spring pics……Sandwich looks yummylicious. Bread looks gr8!
Glad to see they turned out beautifully! Looks like a delicious sandwich!
Gorgeous bread Deeba and I just adore your photos so beautiful.
Rosie x
Those look delicious! I think they are the perfect shape and thickness for a pita sandwich.
Deeba I delight very often with pita and panini independently, but never both together superb!
The photos are awesome as usual but the last ones with the mozzarella melting are insane!!
Excellent tasty yummmmmmy job 🙂
Deeba there’s an award for you on my blog!
All the best,
Gera
I definitely think pita breads are perfect for panini – I use them all the time! Your sandwiches look so good.
i need to collect my passion to make a bread like yours, Deba.. i always have a problem with ‘yeast’ – always never rise. I don’t know why, but yours look so gorgeus..
omg! I was going to comment how amazing the sandwich looked and then I realized you actually made the bread part of it!! I’m so impressed 🙂
That looks great.
Oh, Deeba, that panino oozing melted cheese is making me salivate!
How beautiful, Deeba! Delicious food and fabulous photos!
Wow, what great looking sandwiches. Your rolls are perfect!
i just came across your page, i love it!
that bread looks so good!
Hoo boy but these look good! Perfect panini bread, that sandwich photo made my mouth water.
What beautiful sandwiches. I think your bread looks awesome.
Love the name – Pitanini:) It looks so good. I am saving the recipe. I have this panini press that I almost never use – time has come to put it to a good use to satisfy my appetite:)
You are a genius. The bread looks fantastic and love that sandwich.
I should try this recipe. I haven’t made pita in a while and know that it would be perfect for panini like you’ve shown. Delicious!
Pitanini? That’s brilliant Deeba! :). Love panini and always preferred flat bread over traditional bread.
Call them what you will, Deeba. I only know they look absolutely delish.
OOooh, pitanini bread is the best idea ever!!
oh these look so delicious 🙂
oooooooooooo…this is amazing!
I’ve been craving some bread baking and your pitas just inspired me to do so soon BTW, is this yeastspotting a bread baking event along the lines of other foodie blog challenges? I’d love to take part in it if that’s the case!
Finally, your photography is out of this world, great composition!