Tomato-peach-corn panzanella
With a rye focaccia that just might steal the show
Hello and welcome to today’s Stories from Catbird Cottage! Tomatoes are a constant here right now. From the leftover amazing ‘seconds’ boxes I amassed for last week’s Feast in the Canopy with friends Hort & Pott, to my own garden fruits (which I’ve been mostly beating the randy chipmunks to…), I’m eating lots of simple tomato salads, occasionally with a little flourish thrown in for an extra-good feast. I am including a special focaccia recipe today, to make feasting a done deal!
Today’s recipe for rye focaccia and a punchy panzanella to add it to is for all subscribers! That said, I’d be grateful if you’d join and upgrade to paid. As a supporter you’ll receive a bonus newsletter once (and sometimes more!) each month that delves deeper into my process, with additional behind the scenes and more zesty recipes. Your support directly helps me to consistently create meaningful content, and I very much appreciate it. To make the upgrade even more tempting, I’ve created a summertime special offer of 20% off for everyone who subscribes for a year. Thank you for being here.
Panzanella is traditionally a bread salad with vegetables. With a little creativity and a few good elements, panzanella is an anchor for many seasonal stars, from beets, to tomatoes, to cucumbers and more. Originally, it’s a genius creation from Tuscany. In Italy, there is a phrase cucina povera - which literally translates to “poor cooking”. This ethos values not wasting anything, and finding splendor in the flavors born of resourcefulness. Just like panzanella, many of Italy’s most famous foods exist because of cucina povera. Why sacrifice perfectly good bread - albeit a little old - when sublime new eating is possible!
This panzanella is comprised of my very favorite summer stars: tomatoes, peaches, and corn. It is finished with lashes of a punchy fish sauce-herb vinaigrette, and it is SO GOOD. Just ask the guests who feasted: at last Saturday’s dinner, I made this exact dish as one of three appetizers in an over-the-top family style affair, my collaboration with the amazing duo, Hort & Pott.
In this instance, I baked bread specifically in order to make the panzanella. You could use any crusty bread and the dish would be fine. But, this focaccia is amazing and you’ll be glad you tried it: a just-right kind of oily, chewy, and pliant. For the record, it is equally great served alongside a cheese board, sliced for sandwiches, or just dragged through your best olive oil. I’ll be making it again this weekend, and you should too.
Rye focaccia
4 cups AP flour
1 cup rye flour
4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 1/3 cups warm water
6+ tbsp extra virgin olive oil
butter, for greasing the pan
flaky salt, for sprinkling
toppings ideas:
pickled peppers + mugwort or sage leaves
castelvetrano olives
tomato confit
preserved lemon + black pepper
Whisk together the yeast and the warm water in a measuring cup until uniform and set aside until it is visibly foamy, about 7 minutes or so.
In a large bowl, stir together the flours and kosher salt. Use a dough scraper to stir wet into dry as you pour the yeasty liquid onto the flours, forming a slurry. Continue folding and stirring until no dry powder remains, and you have a wet, shaggy, uniform dough. Lightly oil the dough scraper, scoot the dough mass forward from the bowl edge, and drizzle a little oil. Turn the bowl and repeat again, pulling the dough forward from the edge and drizzling a little more oil. The idea is to create a thin film of oil around the whole perimeter of the bowl, so that the dough doesn’t cling as it rises.
Cover the bowl with saran or a damp tea towel and place it in the refrigerator to proof for 12-16 hours. I usually do about 14, fwiw.
Remove the dough from the fridge. Oil your hands, then pull the dough from one side of the bowl, stretch it up, and fold it over onto itself. Turn the bowl 90º and repeat stretch and fold, three more times, turning 90º with each round. The initially loose dough will develop important structure in these few, decisive actions!
For ease of release once the focaccia has baked, grease the bottom, corners, and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan, then pour 4 tablespoons of oil in and tilt to evenly coat the surface.
Use the dough scraper to scoop the dough from the bowl and into the pan, being sure to bring with it any stray bits or residual oil.
Cover the pan with the saran or tea towel again and allow to sit at room temp 2-4 hours. If it is a hot day, 2 1/2 hours should be ample.
Preheat the oven to 450º. Remove the saran and assertively dimple the dough, and in so doing, spreading it to the corners of the baking pan. It’s like playing a Rachmaninoff piano piece!
Push any toppings deep into the dough - it will swell as it bakes - then drizzle the remaining olive oil over all and generously scatter flaky salt.
Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pan 180º for even baking. When the focaccia is golden, it is ready.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. The focaccia keeps for 3 days, stored in a bag at room temp. Reheat slices in the (toaster) oven.
I adapted this recipe for the panzanella - adding corn and omitting the additional alliums and herbs - and instead used this dressing I developed for Food52. As long as we still have tomatoes I will make this salad at least once more, to fully gel the magnificence of summer produce. And I’ll be making the focaccia to go with everything, all the way into the clutches of winter.
If you don’t have peaches - or corn - use what is available. I strongly recommend generously spooning the dressing onto everything, and for it to soak into the crispy focaccia a little, bringing forth more juicy-chewy-crispy notes to an already amazing salad.
Though it was one of the things raved about that night, the panzanella is one of the dishes I didn’t manage to snag a photo of. Here are some snippets from the dazzling night. Huge thanks to Todd and Carter for this exceptional collaboration, and their vision to create a truly magical space for all to marvel at and spend a rollicking night in, enjoying my food. Thanks to everyone who came and shared the evening with us!
If you’d like to come to the next one, send a note or leave a reply in the comments. While we’re all still recovering, I can’t help but dream up new ideas for magical eating experiences… they’re a gift to us all!
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