LOTI COOKS | CLAUDIA’S GUAC ‘N’ EGGS

It’s British Sandwich Week this month (19th – 26th May in case you want to mark your calendars) so it’s only right that we’ve got a sarnie recipe for you to try. And who better to get one from than Max Halleyof Max’s Sandwich Shop. Claudia’s Guac ‘n’ Eggs, made with Max’s Original & Best Focaccia, Claudia Reading’s guacamole, two fried eggs and shoestring fries or crushed up tortilla chips, is the easiest of The Sandwich Shop sarnies to make at home, and as Max says, it’s easy to make vegan or add in extra bits of whatever you’ve got lying around.

What You Need

For Max’s Original & Best Focaccia
540g strong white bread flour
7g sachet of fast-action dried yeast
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp caster sugar
288ml warm water, ideally 38°C
50ml extra virgin olive oil
Maldon sea salt

For Claudia’s Guacamole
2 tomatoes
2 avocados, chopped
1/2 red onion, coarsely grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed with salt into a puree
1/2 bunch of coriander, finely chopped
1 tbsp pickled jalapenos, finely chopped
Large pinch of salt
Small pinch of sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

What You Do

1. Make the bread. Put all the dry ingredients in a the bowl of an electric mixer. Pour the oil into the water and tip into the mixing bowl.
You can get to the correct temperature by measuring out 175ml of cold water and adding 113ml of boiling water. You even do this on the scales as 1ml weighs 1g.

2. Use a dough hook attachment on the mixer and knead on the slowest setting for six minutes. If you don’t have a mixer, bring the ingredients together in the bowl and then tip out onto a surface to knead by hand.

3. Once kneaded, neaten the dough ball up by taking it in your hands and tucking the sides under and in on themselves, turning the dough as you go. The top will be smoother and the bottom will be messier. Put in a bowl smooth side up, cover with clingfilm and prove for 1-2 hours until it’s tripled in size.

4. Rub some oil in the bottom of a high-sided roasting tray. Cut a piece of greaseproof paper to cover the bottom and up the sides, and place the paper down. Pour some more oil on top of the paper. Put the dough in the middle of the tray, keeping it the same way up. Push and knead the dough all over the tray to create as even a layer as possible.

5. Sprinkle the surface with loads of Maldon salt. Wrap clingfilm around the tray a few times and leave to prove for another 1-2 hours until it’s tripled again.

6. Take the clingfilm off and bake the bread in a preheated oven at 220°C for 18 minutes. Once baked, turn it out onto a wire rack (get rid of the paper) and leave to cool for at least 40 minutes.
If you’re using a fan oven, turn the temperature down or bit or keep a close eye on the loaf as the top will brown quickly. If you’re worried about the bread falling apart when you turn it out, pop the wire rack over tray and, using oven gloves, turn the whole lot over so the loaf falls out onto the rack.

7. Make the guac. Make a shallow cross in the bottom of the tomatoes and put them in a pan of boiling water. After a minute or so the skin will peel back, so tip the water out, run them under the cold tap so you can hold them and peel off the skins. Cut them in half, remove the seeds and core, chop into tiny pieces and put in a bowl.

8. Add the avocado and all the other ingredients. Mash with a potato masher so everything’s mixed but not too smooth. Check the seasoning, adding more acid and more salt to taste.

9. Fry two eggs, crush up the tortilla chips and portion out the bread. Get a layer of guac on the bottom slice, then the eggs, then the chips and finish with a bit more guac on the top slice.

For more sandwich recipes, check out Max’s Sandwich Book by Max Halley and Ben Benton here. Do tag us in your photos with #loticooks and we will showcase the best ones on our feed.

Loading...