Italian · Tuscany · salad

Panzanella

Name: Panzanella
Prep time: 22 min
Total time: 1 h 27 min
Cuisine: Italian · Tuscany
Ingredients: bread — 400 g; cold water — 300 g; tomatoes — 700 g; red onion — 150 g; english cucumber — 200 g; fresh basil — 25 g; red wine vinaigrette — 45 g; extra virgin olive oil — 83 g; salt — 7 g; freshly ground black pepper — 3 g

Panzanella reads sourness 4.7, salinity 4.2 and richness 3.4 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Italian · Tuscany salad, about 1 hr 27 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 4.6 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 3.4 / 10
Sour & Bright — 5.2 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 1.8 / 10
Rich & Fat — 3.6 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sourness 4.7 · Salinity 4.2 · Richness 3.4 · Herbaceous 3.0 · Fruity 2.7 · Sweetness 2.5 · Allium 2.4 · Citrus 1.8 · Funk & Ferment 1.8 · Umami 1.7 · Bitterness 1.7 · Warm Spice 1.6 · Floral 1.0 · Earthy 0.8 · Nutty 0.6 · Heat 0.6

What's in it (10)

bread — 400 g
cold water — 300 g
tomatoes — 700 g
red onion — 150 g
english cucumber — 200 g
fresh basil — 25 g
red wine vinaigrette — 45 g
extra virgin olive oil — 83 g
salt — 7 g
freshly ground black pepper — 3 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 27 min (22 min active) · effort: medium

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 69.3 kcal, 2.2 g protein, 0.9 g fat, 12.7 g carbs

Dietary: Vegan — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (5 steps)

Soak the sliced red onion in cold water for 20 minutes and drain; this takes the aggression out of it without cooking it.
Tear the stale bread into rough 3 cm pieces and moisten it. Do not drown it: sprinkle the water over in stages, tossing, until the bread is damp through but no water pools in the bowl, about 5 minutes of work. Then squeeze each handful gently and crumble it back. You want a bread that is soft but still has structure, not paste. This is the step that separates a good panzanella from a wet mess, and it is why the bread must be saltless Tuscan bread with a real crumb rather than a soft sandwich loaf.
Salt the tomato chunks with 0.5 tsp of the salt in a separate bowl and leave 15 minutes, then tip tomatoes and all their released juice over the bread. That juice is the real dressing.
Add the drained onion, the cucumber, the basil, the remaining salt and the pepper. Pour over the vinegar and the olive oil and turn everything over with your hands.
Leave the salad at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour before eating, turning once. It should sit, but not overnight; by the next day the bread has surrendered. Correct with more oil, vinegar and salt just before serving, since the bread will have taken up most of what you added.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Salsa Criolla — Argentine
Gazpacho Andaluz — Spanish
Solterito Arequipeño — Peruvian
Ensalada Mixta — Argentine
Tzatziki — Greek

Keep reading: what sourness, salinity, richness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.