PAN BAGNAT MY WAY

• 1 large Boule ~ a round loaf of bread, as seen in photos
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 6 Roasted Red Peppers from a jar
• 1/2 Red Onion, peeled and sliced thinly
• Fresh basil leaves
• Green Olives, about 2 dozen
• 2 x (125g) balls of Mozzarella Cheese, sliced
• 3 fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 2 slices of cooked Ham, (I prefer air dried ham, but it makes the loaf difficult to cut)
• Salt and pepper

Note

You can also wrap this loaf in greaseproof paper and then tie it up with string for a very arty culinary way of presentation!

Directions

Step 1	First ~ cut the top of the bread, as seen in the photos, about 2″, and scoop all of the inside of the bread loaf ~ leaving a 1/2″ shell; crumble the bread between your fingers or in a food processorand freeze as breadcrumbs for cooking later.
Step 2	Next, brush the inside of the bread shell and underneath the lid with the olive oil.
Step 3	Then the fun begins, you start to layer your sandwich ~ now, this is NOT written in stone, but these are the layers I prefer, for texture and flavour mingling! First, you place three of your roasted red peppers in the bottom of the shell, I had to cut mine into halves to fit them in snugly.
Step 4	Then add the sliced red onions.....
Step 5	………and then some torn basil leaves
Step 6	and then the olives ~ I cut my olives into slices, so they squash down better and don’t fall out when the loaf is cut!
Step 7	Next is the Mozzarella cheese, push the slices into the corners as far as you can, tearing some if need be, so they all fit snugly into the bread shell.
Step 8	Now we add the first layer of fresh sliced tomatoes, season them well with salt and black pepper too……
Step 9	Scatter a few more basil leaves over the tomatoes……
Step 10	Next is the ham…
Step 11	Now we start to duplicate the ingredients again, adding more roasted red peppers, then more mozzarella cheese and then lastly adding some more slices of fresh tomatoes, not forgetting to add seasoning.
Step 12	Finally, wrap the whole picnic loaf in cling film………
Step 13	and sit something VERY heavy on top, I used a tin of Confit D’Canard! Leave it like this for at least 2 hours, it is better overnight actually.
Step 14	Slice the sandwich before you go on your picnic if you wish, it is easier, or just take a wooden board and knife for slicing on location. You can also cut this into wedges too