Anthony Bourdain's Mortadella Sandwich Babka

Anthony Bourdain's famous Mortadella sandwich is already pretty perfect, but what if it was all baked into a fluffy loaf of bread?

Done in 4 hours + 1 hours

Serves 6-8

Dish by Ori Goldberg

Ingredients

Brioche dough:

75gwhole milk

7g fast-action yeast

500gplain flour

12gsalt

300gwhole eggs

200gunsalted butter, soft

30gcaster sugar

Bechamel:

3 tbspbutter

3 tbspplain flour

150ml milk

1 tspnutmeg

salt and pepper, to taste

Fillings:

mortadella

sliced provolone

comte shavings

pinch of course black pepper

You've probably heard of Anthony Bourdain's five-ingredient sandwich. Inspired by a meal he had in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the iconic food writer made it with an incredibly hefty amount of mortadella, provolone cheese, mustard and mayo, stuffed into a roll. Many would say it's flawless as it is, but Ori decided to take it one step further and bake the whole thing into a savoury babka, which is an enriched brioche-like dough. Something tells us Tony would approve.

Method

Start with the brioche dough! Get the wet ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer (milk and eggs), along with he sugar and yeast. Give that a mix before adding flour and salt, Knead for 5 minutes on slow, before turning up the speed to medium and kneading for another 7 minutes. Once this is done, start adding your softened butter, a cube at a time, until the dough has taken in all the butter. The dough may seem sticky but it's all ok, scrape down the bowl, fold a couple times and leave to prove for an hour or until doubled in size.

Whilst waiting for the dough to prove, make the béchamel by melting butter in a pan, then whisking in the flour. Add milk, slowly, whilst whisking continuously, until the mixture is glossy and smooth. Make sure the béchamel is completely cold before spreading onto our dough.

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and lay it on a well floured work surface. Roll out into a long rectangle, the same width as your loaf tin. Spread on the béchamel, followed by the mortadella and the cheeses. Season one more time before rolling up, and leave it to prove a final time in the loaf tin until doubled in size.

Egg wash the top of the loaf before baking at 175°c for 35-45 minutes, or until golden all over. Allow to cool slightly before garnishing with more mortadella, and grated Comte, before slicing up and serving with a dollop of your favourite mustard.

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Ori Goldberg

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Coming from a family of entertainers and cooks, Ori (a professional eater turned chef) has been surrounded by all things food for as long as he can remember. Born and raised in NW London, post university Ori decided to dedicate some time into running the family restaurant, delve deep into his middle-eastern roots, and create menus expressing his love for traditional street foods and baked goods. Now, the dream is to continue to push boundaries of technique and fusion, through life experiences and upbringing!