Panzanella, Tuscan bread salad
A refreshing summer bread salad made with ripe tomatoes, cucumber, onions and a handful of basil leaves, dressed with your best extra virgin olive oil and a dash of vinegar.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 300 grams (10 1/2 oz) stale Tuscan bread
- 2 ripe tomatoes, either Florentine Costoluti or Beefsteak variety
- 1 cucumber
- 1 small red onion
- A few leaves of fresh basil
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Fine sea salt
Instructions
- Break up the bread and place the pieces in a large bowl. Cover with cold water. They used to make panzanella with leftover homemade baked bread: it had a very different flavour and texture, and it needed a long time to soak up. Nowadays, 5 minutes often would do. The bread will absorb the water like a sponge.
- Finely slice the onion. If the flavour of your onions is too strong, soak them in cold water for about 10 minutes to reduce their pungency.
- Roughly chop the tomato. Peel and finely slice the cucumber.
- Drain and wring out the bread to remove all excess liquid, then crumble it using your hands. There’s nothing worse than a too-watery panzanella, so just when you think you have wrung out the liquid sufficiently, go ahead and do it one more time.
- Transfer the crumbled bread to a large bowl such as a soup tureen. Drain the onions and add these to the bread along with the tomatoes and cucumber. Tear in the basil leaves.
- Season with sea salt, a few grinds of black pepper, plenty of extra virgin olive oil and a small amount of red wine vinegar. For a more delicate flavour, use apple cider vinegar.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, then toss well and serve.
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