Saturday, February 7, 2026

Giant Overnight Sandwich Rolls? Plus: Ultra Smooth (Perfect) Hummus, Balsamic Roasted Peppers, Monkey Bread {Updated} & More

Friends, hello.

This week, I became obsessed with the idea of making giant sandwich rolls for giant sandwiches. Inspired by Jim Lahey's bread recipe, I cut back the yeast, changed the hydration, and used cold water in an old overnight sandwich roll recipe. And after the first rise, I let the shaped loaves rise for 3 more hours before baking them.

For the effort, the crumb is surprisingly light and airy:

And it made a great giant sandwich:

But I'm still fiddling with the recipe. If any of you want to give it a go, I've typed it up in this Google Doc, and I'd love to hear your thoughts. And if you think you might use it for Super Bowl Sunday, don't forget to make your dough tonight.

Sandwich Roll Recipe: Test

PS: Thank you for all of your rice cooker suggestions in response to my thoughts about my Cuckoo. I am still reading through all of them, but I have learned a lot already both about the many ways to cook rice — like in the oven, which I plan to try this week — and the various models of rice cookers and their many functions.

These are the models that were suggested repeatedly:

Zojirushi: This hands down has been suggested most often for its many settings, quality, and versatility — I love the idea of being able to program it to cook rice at a certain time. I also love the idea of waking up to cooked steel cut oatmeal.
KitchenAid, Aroma, Tatung, and Tiger brands also received high praise.
Japanese clay pot rice cookers sold from TOIRO also came highly recommended — these look beautiful.

Find all of the suggestions in the comments of this post: Great Aunt Rene's Honey Mustard Baked Chicken.

Have a great weekend, Friends! I've shared some of my favorite recipes for entertaining below should you be hosting for Super Bowl Sunday. Go Team! 🏈🏈🏈

Review of the Week

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Simple 5-Ingredient Naan

Who knew!?! Naan is incredibly easy to make. I had leftovers of a very elaborate meal I used frozen naan for, and being snowed in, out of naan, and unable to buy more, I turned to this recipe. I am so glad I did. The results were thrilling and delicious. I highly recommend you try.

— Courtade