Last year we took a trip down to New Orleans and being the foodies that we are, we had to stop at Central Grocery and Deli in the French Quarters and try the Muffaletta sandwich. Central Grocery is an old fashion grocery store that was founded by a Sicilian immigrant in 1907 names Salvatore Lupo. Salvatore also created the infamous muffaletta. Each sandwich is made on a 9″ round Sicilian sesame loaf. It is stuffed with ham, salami, mortadella, swiss, provolone and olive salad. Since we are trying to limit travel during this pandemic, we decided to satisfy the craving for this delicious sandwich and make it at home!

Where to Find Olive Salad?

You can find muffaletta olive salad at grocery stores, online or do a simple google search for a recipe and make your own. We ordered ours directly from Central Grocery via their website.

Where to Find Mortadella? 

Mortadella was not as easy of a thing for us to fine. We called multiple specialty meat stores as well as grocery stores. All were out or didn’t carry it but we got lucky and found a store that had it available. If you can’t find mortadella, bologna is the closest substitute and taste great in this combination.

Where to Find the Bread? 

I’m sure if you live in New Orleans, you can find muffaletta bread at a bakery near by. If you can’t find Muffaletta in your area, you can substitute it with any round and wide loaf bread. We made our own. The recipe is below. We found the bread recipe on the Foodie and Wine website. Please note that the bread is a 2 day process so plan accordingly. Lets get started!

 

Ingredients 

Starter Dough

• 1 Cup flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 tsp yeast

Dough

• All of the starter
• 3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp yeast

Topping

• Egg wash – 1 egg and 1/4 cup water
• Sesame Seeds

Sandwich filling

• 6 oz genoa salami
• 6 oz black ham
• 6 oz mortadella
• 4 oz provolone, sliced
• 4 oz mozzarella, sliced
• 1 cup Olive salad or to taste

Mix the starter ingredients together and leave at room temperature, covered, overnight.

When the starter is ready, add the dough ingredients as well as all of the starter to a bowl and mix until you have a cohesive dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 3 hours. After the first hour, deflate the dough and turn over. Do the same at the 2 hour mark.

Once the dough has risen, transfer to a floured work area and shape to a 10″ round. We found that a rolling pin worked best. Transfer the dough onto a greased baking sheet and let it rise overnight in the fridge.

Take the dough out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to baking. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine the egg and water to create the egg wash. Brush this mixture over the top of the bread and sprinkle with sesame seed. Bake for 20-25  minutes. Let bread cool before slicing.

Assembling the Sandwich 

Brush the cut side of the bread with olive oil. On the bottom slice, lay down a good layer of salami followed by the ham. Then layer on the cheese. Top the cheese slices with the mortadella. Finally add the olive salad. We placed the olive salad in a bowl and our hands worked best for placing it. Start in the middle and work your way towards the edge. Place the other half of the bread on top and you’re done! Use a long knife and cut into quarters for serving.