Baking thru the pandemic: The Muffaletta is my second favorite sandwich

The Muffaletta, as created and prepared by Central Grocery on Decatur in New Orleans, is my second favorite sandwich on earth. I recently spent a week in New Orleans trying Muffaletta at various locations to see if I might possibly like one better than the OG sandwich sold across from the French Market. I could not.

While the location may be part of the experience, and I certainly do love sitting at a counter in the back of Central Grocery, drinking an Abita Amber and enjoying a Muffaletta with Zapp's Voodoo Heat chips, I figured I could make this sandwich at home.

The ingredients are commonly available. Mostly the sandwich is made of cured meats and cheese, the tricky parts seemed to be the olive tapenade and the bread. Bread? I figured I could handle the bread, and when I saw the olive salad available for sale online...

Sandwich ho!

Boing Boing's Muffaletta

You are going to need about 36 hrs for this one.

Sponge:

tsp yeast1 cup warm water1 cup bread flour

Dough:

3 cups bread flour2 Tbs shortening1 Tbs salt1 cup warm water tsp yeast

Before you bake:

1 egg cup water

About 4oz each of Mortadella, Genoa Salami, Hot Cappicola. Also sliced provolone, and 1 jar of Central Grocery olive tapenade.

Mix all the starter ingredients in a medium-size bowl, cover and set on your counter overnight.

Combine the dough ingredients with your starter in a large-size bowl, or your standing kitchen mixer if you have one.