Italian Panzanella Bread Salad

I won 1st Place for this salad that I re-named Tuscan Bread Salad! I had to substiute a few items because of availability- I live in Mexico. I used a homemade sourdough bread- no artisan breads here and also grape tomatoes, cannellini beans ,feta, orange and yellow peppers( left out the red & green peppers)and also added some summer sausage cut in quarters. I also sprinkled the feta cheese on top to give it a better visual presentation. The judges must have loved it- 25% judging for presentation and 75% for taste! I also added some rosemary and basil springs along side the platter I put it on. Thanks again for this great recipe!

Oh, my gosh! This was my favorite salad so far! i couldn't find any tear-drop tomatoes so I had no tomatoes in it and I used feta cheese instead of the goat but stuck with the rest of the recipe. It was absolutely phenominal! I loved it. My husband and sister really enjoyed it as well. It had so much flavor. Thanks for the recipe! I will definitely be making this again as well as putting it in my "potluck" recipes so others can enjoy it!

Simple and delicious. I made it for a work meeting and it was a huge hit. Everyone wanted the recipe.

1. Made this again for the military wives. Again, it was the hit of the party. I let the tomato mixture sit in the fridge overnight and it turned out fine. 2.Everyone at the party LOVED this salad. I used a garlic and cheese bread instead of the white bread. Make this, you will not be sorry.

This is a fantastic salad! I took it to a dinner party and it received rave reviews--one of my friends even took a picture of it, and several more asked for the recipe--a winner for sure, thanks for sharing!

This was excellent! I used Parmesan Herb Bread from this site, regular red tomatoes and omitted the pine nuts and rosemary (had none). I liked the idea of using pesto and balsamic vinegar as the dressing,but I had none prepared so I basically just made a vinaigrette with the same ingredients (basil, garlic, oil, etc - no pine nuts, though). I mixed the vegetable ingredients, then rubbed the toasted bread with garlic before chopping and adding to the salad just before serving, as I like it slightly warm but not hard like croutons. The goat cheese was and excellent addition, and the chickpeas made this a very satisfying salad.

A fabulous salad that kept and fed me for days!

This salad was wonderful. My family just loved it. The kalamata olives and the tangy dressing was very tasty. Thanks for such a great, quick dish.

YUM

Simply marvelous! Quality of your bread is imperative! Texture and flavor is perfectly balanced and scrumptious. Instead of pesto, I used fresh basil and evoo.

I'm sorry I must be the only one, but to me this salad was just ok, not outstanding or extraordinary like everyone else said. I followed the recipe exactly as written, just omitted the kalamata olives because I don't like it. I'm sorry again, I hate to be the only one to leave a different review, but I don't think I will make this again.

My boyfriend was born in Naples and absolutely loved this salad. I had to make a few substitutions based on what I had on had (i.e., regular cherry tomatoes, torn up naan bread crisped in the oven, frozen peppers, and onion flakes). My boyfriend loved this salad so much, I can't wait to make it again, but using fresh ingredients.

This recipe did not work out at all for me. The bread cubes turned into bread mush within twenty minutes of being mixed in. Were they just supposed to be toasted, or were they supposed to be more like croutons? I think that it might have been better had I prepared them like regular croutons, setting the oven to 250 and leaving them in for much longer, to really dry them out. It also didn't help that I didn't follow the directions for the lettuce: I just shredded it and mixed it in. The next day, after I fished out all the bread mush and the soggy, wilted lettuce, I tasted what was left and recognized that this salad might have some potential, but I certainly won't be making it again.

I took this to a dinner party last night and it was the first thing to go. I made the croutons out of oat/wheat bread. So Yummy!!

Awesome! We used whole wheat/grain bread (since that what we have) and it added to the heartiness of the salad. The pesto vinaigrette was perfect and the olives/chickpeas definitely made this taste very Mediterranean. We forgot the goat cheese and used parm, but will definitely get goat/feta next time to add another tangy element. Flavors galore!

I'm giving this one star just because the ingredients were interesting but my husband and I didn't like this at all - WAY TOO MUCH PESTO - and I love pesto...and today it's just a bowl of mushy lettuce...

Really, really good. This is a wonderful summer salad when basil is fresh.

I made this exactly as it was written for Easter dinner. We had Italian food. It was a big hit. Very little was left. The flavors all blended perfectly. It’s a keeper.

This recipe is right up my alley. I love all the ingredients and I may be a bit heavy handed with the red bell peppers, my favorite. When they are fresh and sweet, they add so much. I love Kalamata olives and Castelvetrano which need to be pitted but have less salt.

i would use more pesto and less balsamic vinegar.it does need time to meld. i would make it again.