A Family's Introduction to Our Everyday Bread Bundle

Dennis Weaver

Homemade bread, seven days, seven ideas — and a week your family will talk about.

Start Monday with a raspberry sandwich that will change how you think about sandwiches. End Sunday with a warm bread pudding made from whatever's left. This is what homemade bread can do. Pick your ten, and let's get started.

Ready to bake? Get the Everyday Bread Bundle — Raspberry Edition →

Here's what's waiting for you:

Day 1--The Raspberry Sandwich: A grilled sandwich with fresh raspberries
Day 2--Apple Pie French Toast: French toast loaded with apple pie filling
Day 3--Panzanella: The Italian bread salad that made it across the pond
Day 4--Monte Cristo Sandwiches: A sweet and savory echo from the past
Day 5--Homemade Burger Buns: Way better, in a variety of flavors
Day 6--Kids' Cheese Sandwiches: Made the way they love them
Day 7--A Selection of Bread Puddings: Never waste a slice

Day 1.

It's Monday. The best thing you can do today is make a Raspberry Sandwich. It will change your day- fresh raspberries on a cream cheese bed, grilled in butter with just a touch of sugar that makes the sandwich crisp and tempers the tartness of the berries. The cream cheese is whipped soft, and the heat melds the berries into the cream cheese.

Baker's notes: Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on both slices of bread, no more than a teaspoon of sugar for each sandwich, and cook over medium-low heat.

It's how you start your week, with something special, something memorable. You'll remember Monday.

Day 2

It's Tuesday. It looks like breakfast, but maybe it's lunch. That's Apple Pie French Toast. It's an easy meal. Apple pie in your French toast. Nobody does this. You do.

Make a sandwich on your homemade bread. You can use apple pie filling or Apple Pastry Filling.

Baker's Notes: Make an egg wash: one large egg for each quarter cup of milk. Soak your sandwich in the egg wash, 30 seconds to a minute per side, then lift it out and onto the hot griddle.

Cook it on medium heat until the egg mixture is set and the bread is crispy. Drizzle it with maple syrup or maybe a little buttermilk syrup. Since this is an adventure week, drop a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream on your French toast.

It's going to be a good Tuesday.

See more about making Apple Pie French Toast.

Day 3

It's Wednesday--Panzanella Day. They're famous Italian salads. They work with any of your seven breads.

Invite someone over. Panzanella is just bread, tomatoes, and whatever looks good at the market. There's no wrong way to make it. Toss in cucumbers, basil, red onion, a drizzle of good olive oil. You're an artist. Have fun. Impress your friends.

That opens the world, mixing bread with your salad. Your friends will be impressed--bread pieces mixed into salad! It's more of a meal with the bread added. Panzanella may be Italian, but you can make a bread salad with any salad and any bread.

You don't need a recipe to get started. But here are some ideas you can share with them to get started:

How to Make Panzanella and Other Bread Salads.

Day 4

It's Thursday. Monte Cristo sandwiches are an echo from the past. They are cooked sandwiches, a melding of sweet and savory. My dad loved them, but he wasn't a purist. The stars of his show were mustard, cheddar, ham, and raspberry jam. They're cooked. His were simple grilling, but they have evolved to be battered, even deep-fried.

But stick with what you know and love--grilling is fine. I'm not a fan of mustard; I'll leave that off.

It's a whole new, resurrected genre of sandwiches. But you can make your own--whatever you like.

Here's your guide to Monte Cristo sandwiches to get you started.

Day 5

It's Friday. Time to get ready for the weekend--how to make burgers like you've never made them before.

These are homemade burger buns, and you can make them with any bread mix. Like homemade bread, homemade burger buns are way better than store-bought burger buns. And it's not just that they are homemade; you can use any bread mix. We'll show you how.

Make buns with your favorite bread. Chances are, they'll make your favorite burgers too.

The burger above, the one on the left, is made with a Salsa Bread Mix- the salsa is in the dough. That makes for unique burgers. The one on the right is made with a Black Russian Bread Mix, a type of rye bread.

Two of our other favorites are buns made with Sour Cream Onion bread dough and Diego's Jalapeno Cheese bread dough.

It's not only burger buns, but you're looking at some of the best sandwich buns on the planet.

They're really simple to make. If you can make dinner rolls, you can make burger buns. You make them the same way, except they're shaped slightly differently. Oh, and there is one other difference. If you choose, you can make them on the deck in your BBQ grill.

See how to make homemade hamburger buns.

See how to bake your buns on the deck.

Day 6

It's Saturday. It's a lazy family day with the kids.

What do the kids like? I know that kids like cheese sandwiches. Restaurants serve them, and moms order them. They seem to make kids happy.

But I'm a dad. If a dad wants to make a kid happy with a cheese sandwich, he'd better talk to a mom.

I learned that I knew nothing about making kids' grilled cheese sandwiches. So I did some research and made a list. It's an amazing list. This is what I learned.

Use American cheese or a mild cheddar blend that melts super creamy. Use a mix of cheeses so that it pulls into those long, gooey strings that kids love.
And a pinch of sugar to the butter before spreading it on the outsides of the sandwich. That helps it caramelize and turn golden without burning. The little sweetness helps balance the cheese flavor.
Butter the bread generously on the outside. Then cook it low and slow so that the cheese melts before the bread burns.
Let the sandwich rest for a minute after cooking and before cutting. It's still soft enough for kids but less gooey and messy.
Cut it into shapes or strips after it's cooked. That makes a big difference. For a kid, three-bite sizes are just right. You could use a cookie cutter, but then you have drops. Plain sandwiches are boring; shapes are exciting. Triangles or hearts are perfect.

Day 7

It's Sunday. You've had a magnificent week. Now take what's left — the heels, the odds and ends — and turn them into something warm and sweet.

Bread pudding is the perfect ending. The bread doesn't have to match; a mixed pudding is fine. If you have more than you need, freeze the rest for next time — or make croutons. Good bread never goes to waste.

You're an artist to the very last slice.