TITLE: Optimized Grilled Cheese
AUTHORS: Beth K. Martin, Chengxiang Qiu, Jay Shendure

[DESCRIPTION]
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches are delicious. Here we describe a method for making an epic one. 

(Submitted October 14, 2022, Happy Birthday Jay!)

[GUIDELINES]
Introduction 
The Grilled Cheese Sandwich has been around for over 100 years1, sustaining hungry people through the Great Depression in the 1920s, to becoming a beloved comfort food of poor college students and picky eaters in the present day. But how can we make it bigger? We developed a method for making a giant grilled cheese that is not only simple to assemble, but able to pass the strictest quality metrics (i.e. Will Jay eat it?) 

Development of the protocol 
We searched the literature and discovered a previous version of a Giant Grilled Cheese2. We thought, "hey that looks totally doable" but there wasn't a detailed protocol available. So here it is. 

Comparison to other methods 
There are many variations of the grilled cheese sandwich, but unfortunately they are all ultimately restrained by their dimensions and will realistically only feed 1-2 people. In contrast, this protocol will enable you to feed a labful of people in parallel with just a single sandwich. 

Limitations 
The size of the grilled cheese is ultimately limited by the size of your oven and baking sheets. We were limited by our equipment which only allowed for a 21"x15" sandwich. However this protocol is easily scalable if you can accommodate an even larger version. 


Overview of the Protocol 
There are two main sections to the protocol that can be split over two days. If you are desperate for grilled cheese, you can combine Days 1 and 2 into a single day. 
1)  Day 1 - Dough preparation and baking. 

2)  Day 2 - Slicing, assembly and final baking. 

Troubleshooting Guide 
 
      						 							 								 									Step  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Problem  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Possible Reason  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Solution  								 							 						 					  						 							 								 									13  								 							 						 						 							 								 									My dough didn't rise!  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Bad yeast, too cold.  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Allow more time for rising, move to a warmer room.  								 							 						 					  						 							 								 									13  								 							 						 						 							 								 									The dough has a life of its own and is taking over the kitchen!  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Your room is TOO warm  								 							 						 						 							 								 									End the rising time early  								 							 						 					  						 							 								 									27  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Cheese is not melted in the middle  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Oven too cold, cheese too cold  								 							 						 						 							 								 									Add more cooking time.  								 							 						 					 


Acknowledgements
 We thank the entire Shendure Lab for their enthusiastic support and general awesomeness, and QTPi 
for being the goodest girl. 

Author Contributions 
B. K. M. adapted the protocol and baked the bread. C.Q. contributed to the final assembly. J.S. provided quality control. 

Corresponding authors 
Correspondence to Beth Martin (martin91@uw.edu) ORCID 0000-0002-9661-014X. 

  
  
 
  
   
Anticipated Results

  

References 
1. The History of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich, How Stuff Works, (2022). https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/history-of-grilled-cheese.htm 
2. Zhou, A. et. al. I Made A Giant 20-Pound Grilled Cheese For HellthyJunkFood. Tasty, (2019). https://youtu.be/bEPdGCOYWeE 






 
 

[STEPS]
SECTION: Bread Preparation
1. In the biggest mothereffing bowl that you can find, add the water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit for a few minutes until you see bubbles forming
SECTION: Bread Preparation
2. Add the oil, salt, and 4 cups of flour. Stir until flour is incorporated, but you don't need to get all the lumps out.

SECTION: Bread Preparation
3. Add another 4 cups of flour and stir until incorporated. Repeat with another 4 cups of flour.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
4. Dust a large clean surface with flour.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
5. Add the last 4 cups (20 cups total by now) of flour to the dough, it will now be too thick to stir with a spoon, so use your hands to incorporate the flour as much as you can and then dump the whole thing onto the dusted surface.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
6. Knead the giant wad of dough by hand and add more flour just until the point where it stops being too sticky.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
7. Let dough rest for about 10 min.

SECTION: Bread Preparation
8. While the dough is resting clean and dry the original bowl.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
9. Continue kneading dough until smooth. 


 

SECTION: Bread Preparation
10. Spray the bowl with cooking spray and transfer the dough to the bowl. Spray plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover the top of the dough. Allow to rise at Room temperature (warm-ish) for 60 min. 


 


SECTION: Bread Preparation
11. While the dough is rising, line the baking sheets with parchment paper, leaving ends long enough to grab later.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
12. Brush 1 stick of melted butter on the parchment paper until it is all covered with butter.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
13. After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide into 2 halves if it hasn't been divided  already. TROUBLESHOOTING
SECTION: Bread Preparation
14. Press each half into a rectangle shape completely filling each baking sheet.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
15. Spray plastic wrap with cooking spray and cover dough completely.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
16. If you have a proofing setting on your oven, use that to do the final rise in the pans. Otherwise let rise in a warm room, until the dough has doubled in size and is above the edges of the pans, about 30-40 minutes.
SECTION: Bread Preparation
17. Remove the pans from the oven if you were using it for proofing the dough, and preheat oven to 350 °F. 

SECTION: Bread Preparation
18. IMPORTANT Remove plastic wrap and bake both halves of bread. It will take approximately 50-70 minutes. You'll want the top to be golden brown and the internal temp should be at least  190F. You might find that one half will cook faster than the other because of the lack of air circulation, so just check frequently until they are done. Let cool completely. Cover bread with plastic wrap until assembly. PAUSE POINT 
SECTION: Assembly
19. Preheat oven to 400 °F

SECTION: Assembly
20. We will be removing the tops of each bread half so that it looks like a giant slice of bread. Set the height on the cake leveler accordingly. While gently holding down the bread, use the cake leveler to slice off the top with a sawing motion. It's important to hold the bread down or else it will lift off the pan as you cut it and you will cut off too much. Repeat on second half. Discard tops of bread or give to the birds outside.
SECTION: Assembly
21. Using the parchment paper to lift, remove one of the slices from its pan and set aside.
SECTION: Assembly
22. Pour 1.5 sticks of melted butter into the pan and use the pastry brush to spread evenly. Set the pan level in a 4C fridge for 5 min to harden the butter.

SECTION: Assembly
23. Flip the pan with the butter upside down and place on top of the bread slice you removed from it. Slide another, edgeless baking sheet underneath the parchment paper and hold this all together to flip the bread back into the buttered pan, with the cut side down in the butter. Remove the parchment paper. This is your bottom layer.
SECTION: Assembly
24. Lay two layers of sliced cheese onto this slice, covering it completely but avoiding the edges.
SECTION: Assembly
25. Using four hands, gently lift the second slice off its parchment paper and place on top of the cheese, making sure its completely supported in the middle as you lift it.
SECTION: Assembly
26. Brush another 1.5 sticks of melted butter on top.
SECTION: Assembly
27. Bake for 45 min or until the top is golden brown and the cheese in the center has melted.