Every summer I wait patiently to find some of the reddest, ripest tomatoes so I can make one of my favorite salads. Panzanella! Originally it came from thinking of ways to use up old stale bread. What was created from it was simply rustic magic! Bake your bread to make croutons and then add ripe tomatoes, cold crispy cucumbers, briny kalamata olives, drizzled in a vinaigrette, and sprinkled with fresh aromatic basil and touched with some earthy parmesan cheese. I dare you not to like this dish! It covers all the bases. For this Gluten Free Panzanella Salad I was able to find gluten free baguettes! I like using Schars or Udis. Feel free to play around and find the bread that works best for you.
Tips For Making Gluten Free Panzanella Salad
Bread
I’m so happy to even say I can make this Salad Gluten Free. We have come such a long way! The bread I prefer using when making this gluten free is Schar’s. What I love about this company is all their products are vacuum sealed so they don’t need to go in the freezer! You can find this bread at most health food stores/coop. However if you don’t always have access to health food stores/coops you can buy this product and so many other amazing pantry items through a website called Thrive Market! You can order it whenever you like, wherever you are and it ships straight to your door!
Here is the link for the bread. https://thrivemarket.com/p/schar-gluten-free-baguettes
If you are interested in trying Thrive you can try it for a month and if you don’t like it you can cancel at anytime. But I have a feeling you won’t. Click on the Thrive Banner above if you are interested. Also their peanut butter, amazing!
Tomatoes
I will eat this salad all year round however it is best when you use the ripest tomatoes you can find.
When you dice your tomatoes put them in a colander over a bowl and season them well with salt. This will remove the access water in the tomatoes. Save this water to add to your vinaigrette for that extra special tanginess.
Olives
I love adding kalamata olives to this, or capers for the salty, brininess. You can omit them if you are not a fan.
Fresh Herbs
Using fresh herbs really elevates this dish for me. I like using basil but this could also be really good with some Italian parsley or maybe even a hint of fresh dill!
Dressing
Start with your tomato water. Add in minced garlic, dijon mustard, vinegar and pepper. Slowly add in your oil till it emulsifies.
Add half of the dressing to the salad immediately so it can soak in the flavor. Add in the remaining dressing once it is ready to serve.
Gluten Free Panzanella Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 Cups Gluten Free Udis or Schars Baguette Cut Into Cubes.
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes or 2 Whole Tomatoes Diced. Juice Saved
- ½ Chopped Basil Thinly Sliced
- 1 Small Cucumber Chopped
- ½ Red Onion Sliced Thinly
- ½ Cup Kalamata Olives Strained and Cut In Half
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese Shredded garnish optional
- 1 Tsp Salt and Pepper
Vinaigrette
- ½ Cup Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Juice from Tomatoes
- 2 cloves Garlic Minced
- 1/2 Tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 Cup Red WIne Vinegar
- ½ Tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Chop bread into 1" cubes.
- Spread the cubes on a baking sheet. Toss them with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 5-10 minutes, until they are just toasted. Set the cubes aside to cool.
- While the bread is toasting, dice tomatoes and place the tomatoes in a colander and set it over a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and toss well.
- Let the tomato juices collect in the bowl for 5 minutes, tossing the tomatoes occasionally.
- Take the tomato juices and mix in the garlic, dijon mustard, red wine vinegar and pepper. Stream in the 1/2 cup olive oil while whisking until the dressing emulsifies.
- Place the bread cubes, tomatoes, red onion, kalamata olives, cucumbers and chopped basil in a bowl.
- Pour about half of the dressing over top and make sure all the bread cubes are coated. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if desired. Let the mixture sit for 10 - 15 minutes for optimal flavor.
- When it’s time to serve, pour on the rest of the dressing and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
- This salad should be eaten within a day or the bread will get soggy.