16 tuscan bread recipes

Traditional home-made bread that turns out a crispy tasty crust with a delicate soft interior.

Easy, simple and cost-effective yet so delicious. Aromatic flavors are a great way to use up day old crusty bread.

Ribollita is a Tuscan bread soup layered with vegetables, chicken, kidney beans, spinach, stale bread, and Parmesan, then baked until thick and crusty. A hearty Italian peasant soup that improves overnight.

Chilled broccoli soup pureed with potato and chicken stock, served ice cold with paper-thin raw porcini mushroom slices, chives, and ricotta toasts. A refined, restaurant-quality cold soup for summer.

Breakfast fruit focaccia uses thawed frozen bread dough as a shortcut base, topped with sliced plums, butter, and cinnamon sugar. Tastes like a Tuscan breakfast pastry without the dough work.

Pappa al pomodoro, a thick Tuscan bread and tomato soup with stale Italian bread, fresh and canned Roma tomatoes, garlic, leeks, basil, and olive oil. Rustic Italian comfort.

Ribollita, the classic Tuscan bread soup layered with vegetables, kidney beans, spinach, and Parmesan. Baked in a casserole with toasted bread soaking up a rich chicken-wine broth.

Fettunta Toscana is Tuscan grilled bread rubbed with raw garlic and topped with fresh tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. The original Italian bruschetta, simple and seasonal.

Acquacotta: a Tuscan peasant soup of bell peppers, onions, celery, and tomatoes simmered in water and finished with beaten eggs and Parmesan, ladled over toasted bread.

Crostini with chicken livers sauteed in butter and white wine, finished with cream and brown gravy, spread on thin toasted French bread. A rich Tuscan-style appetizer ready in 35 minutes.

Classic Tuscan ribollita, a thick bread soup with cannellini beans, cabbage, spinach, zucchini, and rosemary. Finished with Romano cheese and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Chilled pappa al pomodoro with crab meat crostini, a Tuscan bread-and-tomato soup served cold with a lemony crab-topped baguette float. An elegant no-cook summer appetizer that turns stale bread into something special.

Authentic Tuscan bean soup with cannellini, savoy cabbage, fresh herbs, and a rich ham and salt pork soffritto. Ladled over toasted Italian bread with a drizzle of olive oil.

Zuppa di Accia is a rustic Italian celery soup ladled over toasted bread with hard-boiled eggs, dried sausage, and sharp cheeses. A Tuscan bowl that warms the soul.

Aniseed biscotti from Genoa, twice-baked into long, crisp logs scented with whole anise seed. A yeast-raised dough makes them lighter and more bread-like than the typical Tuscan biscotti, ideal for dunking in coffee or sweet wine.

We have the Italians to thank for bringing this humble soup into our kitchens. Originating in Tuscany centuries ago as a means for the poor to use up stale, leftover bread. Today, we are just grateful that we have a hearty, tasty way to use up leftover ingredients that create a deeply-satisfying meal that is not only well-balanced and healthy, but simple to throw together. While it may not have been a dish for the wealthy, we think you will be peasantly surprised.