Panzanella, also known as "soft bread", is a Tuscan specialty made with stale homemade bread (without salt) soaked in water, chopped and seasoned with onion, fresh tomato, cucumber, basil, olive oil, vinegar , salt and pepper.
The dish is served cold as a single dish or as a small appetizer.
Panzanella has become a famous recipe of Italian cuisine and which above all determines the culinary culture of the central regions of the Bel Paese: Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio and Marche.
The basic idea is to reuse stale bread by softening it with water and vinegar and create a single tasty dish with the addition of vegetables from the garden!
Quick and easy, the panzanella recipe is without cooking. A vegetarian and vegan dish, therefore perfect for those who have chosen to eliminate foods of animal origin from their diet.
Keep in mind that you will need a couple of hours of rest before you can taste the panzanella, so calculate the timing well and follow us in the recipe!
Read our tips for preparing an excellent Tuscan panzanella!
Category: Main courses
Cut the bread first into slices and then into cubes, put it in a bowl and wet it with water and vinegar: mix with your hands and let it rest for half an hour [1].
In the meantime, prepare the vegetables: peel the cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise and then into thin slices. Clean the red onion and also cut into slices. Wash the tomatoes and cut them into wedges [2].
Take the bread back and mix it again with your hands: some pieces will have become crumbs as they soften [3].
Now combine all the ingredients in the bread bowl, season with plenty of oil, salt, pepper and basil. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate your panzanella for 2 hours before serving so that the flavors and aromas mix perfectly [4].
The panzanella is ready to be served.
How to store Panzanella?
Before serving the panzanella it is preferable to let the preparation rest for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. Before bringing it to the table, it will be necessary to let it rest at room temperature for at least 5-10 minutes.
The panzanella should be kept in the refrigerator in an airtight container and should be eaten within the day if already seasoned. If, on the other hand, it is not seasoned, it will last an extra day!
The amount of water depends on the bread you are using: the drier it is, the more water it will take to soften it. The advice is to add a little water at a time so that you can adjust better.
Freezing is not recommended.
A trick for raw onion
If you have difficulty digesting raw onion, a trick to make it less heavy is soaking it in cold water: slice it and cover it with water, let it rest for at least 1 hour, then drain it, rinse it, dab it with paper towels and use it for your panzanella!
What is it "pane sciocco"?
Being a typically Tuscan recipe, the bread used is the Tuscan "pane sciocco", without salt, with a compact crumb and a thin crust. If you don't have it available, you can replace it with homemade bread that has similar characteristics.
There are some versions of panzanella in which celery is added to the vegetables or in which this replaces the cucumber. Other variants include the use of cherry tomatoes instead of copper tomatoes, or the addition of other less traditional ingredients which have the advantage of making the dish even richer such as capers, olives, tuna, hard-boiled eggs, etc
Panzanella is a summer dish to be enjoyed for lunch or as a tasty appetizer.
The dish is excellent enjoyed in company with a good medium-bodied wine, with a very delicate aroma and dry and lively sapidity such as the Bianco di Pitigliano.
Also excellent when savored with Ortrugo, another white with a delicate aroma which is characterized by its pleasantly dry flavor with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
Not only Tuscany, even the Lazio region has its panzanella which differs from the Tuscan one in the dressing consisting only of parsley, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
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4.2 oz/120 g of stale Tuscan bread
to taste extra virgin olive oil
to taste salt and pepper
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