Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad)

Panzanella is a classic Italian tomato-bread salad, and I gave a starch-free twist. I'm sure the Italian bread elitists out there won't like my spin on this salad, but for people who can only eat starch-less bread, it's not too bad. Actually, I'm really happy with out this salad turned out; I wasn't completely sure how the thick almond meal bread would work in this recipe. The original recipe had cucumbers, but I left them out, not really feeling the crunchiness that cucumber would add to this salad. This is adapted from a recipe I found in the July/August 2011 edition of Cook's Illustrated.

{toasting the bread}



{a dinner of salads}

Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad)

serves 4

6 cups "pumpernickel" almond meal bread, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

1 1/2 lbs. tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 shallot, sliced thin

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the bread pieces with 2 tablespoons oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Arrange bread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast bread pieces until just starting to brown, 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

2. Gently toss tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Transfer to colander and set over bowl, then set aside to drain for 15 minutes, tossing occasionally. Whisk remaining 6 tablespoons oil, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper into reserved tomato juices. Add bread pieces, toss to coat, and let stand for 10 minutes, tossing occasionally. Add tomatoes, shallot, and basil to bowl with bread pieces and toss to coat. Season to salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.



"Pumpernickel" Bread



Finding the recipe for this bread has proven to be an amazing breakthrough for us in terms of providing options for bread and bread-like products that the Hubs can eat. It provides a nice baseline off of which you can base other bread-y recipes. This bread is probably much more dense than any other bread that you're used to, so you'll probably want to slice it pretty thin. But it's remarkably versatile (as you will see in some of my upcoming recipe posts) and has a rich, nutty taste and texture. It also only takes a few minutes to whip up. This recipe is adapted from the Pumpernickel Bread recipe in the Healing Foods cookbook.

{mixing the dough}

{in the pan, before baking}

Pumpernickel Bread
makes 1 loaf

1 cup walnuts

4 cups almond flour (we buy our almond meal from Trader Joe's)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 eggs
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon sugar (or honey)

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a 4x8 inch loaf pan with baking paper. Put walnuts into a food processor and blend for 10 seconds. Add almond flour, salt and baking soda and mix. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, butter and sugar/honey until fluffy. Pour into the food processor and process with the almond flour until the dough is well combined. The dough will be thick and heavy.  Pour the dough into the lined loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the top is browned and cracked. The bread will sound hollow and will be quite firm to the touch.

2. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and peel off baking paper. Refrigerate bread in an airtight container; it will keep for 1 week.