Hello my dear readers,
I hope you are all well and hungry for something exquisite but very simple. This week we have seen the benefits of tomatoes, we’ve visited Sicily and today let’s see how to do the perfect tomatoes bruschetta 😉
Bruschetta alla Siciliana, with its Mediterranean aromas and flavors, is a rustic dish, originated from the need to preserve the bread from the farmers, and today it is a perfect summer appetizer.
Bruschetta is a home-made dish appreciated and widespread throughout the whole world, very versatile to prepare for various occasions.
Bruschetta is a term of Lazio-Abruzzo origin, which has known a Panitalian spread, and derives from bruscato bread, ie bread toasted.
For a really good and perfect bruschetta I like to do my own bread at home. Now for the measurements to be honest I never measure anything, I always trust my eyes, but I’ve tried to give an estimate as per below. However, you can adapt the quantities, feeling the dough’s consistency.
What you need:
- 250 g flour
- 11 g dried yeast
- 250 ml water
- a pinch of salt
How to do it:
Put the water in a bowl and stir in the dried yeast. In a separate bowl put the flower and the pinch of salt, then mix everything together and start working the dough.
Take it out from the bowl and knead the dough for about 5 minutes until is smooth and elastic. Form a ball and put it back in the bowl and cover it with a clean towel and let it rest for around 3 hours.
After 3 hours, see how the dough has raised? Is more than double. I’ll take it out from the bowl and separate it in 2 equal pieces or 3 or 4, depends how big you want the loaf and let it rest again for another 2 hours on a baking sheet, on which I sprinkled a little bit of semolina to avoid the dough to stick on the paper.
You’ll see the dough will raise again. I like to do 3 cuts on top and then bake it at 160 degrees in the static oven on a pizza stone (optional). And voilà, your bread is done! And I bet your house is smelling heavenly of homemade fresh bread.
Now, we are ready for the bruschette.
What you need:
-
Slices of bread
-
Tomatoes
-
Garlic
-
Salt
- Pepper
-
Basil
-
Extra virgin olive oil
How to do it:
Cut the bread into slices, about 1 cm thick and toast it for a few minutes on the grill on both sides, without allowing them to darken.
Peel the garlic cloves.
As soon as the slices are well roasted rub the garlic on the slice only on one side which the one that will be seasoned.
Prepare the tomato. Wash the ripe tomatoes, dry them with a paper or cotton cloth, then cut into cubes and put it in a bowl.
Season with a pinch of salt, finely chopped garlic, extra virgin olive oil and chopped basil, mix everything and let stand for 10 minutes.
With a spoon, divide the tomato on the slices and serve immediately. On top if you like you can add an anchovy, as per Sicilian traditional bruschetta.
And because we have so many kind of tomatoes, I did bruschetta also with sun dried tomatoes, and tomato sauce with a little bit of cheese, some olives and capers.
It is a fresh, summer appetizer, very simple to make, fast, cheap and most important delicious!
Enjoy my Italian bruschette in any occasion.
And if you would like to create the perfect table to entertain your family or friends at home, visit my store where you can find carefully selected tableware for your perfect table.
All photo credit: Popsicle Society
See you next time 😉
