According to tradition it is made only with bread and water. Let's see how to prepare it and discover its variants traveling from north to south Italy
Searching for the word "pancotto" online you will come across many different recipes.
There are those who say that it is a southern dish, those who attribute maternity to northern Italy.
What is known for sure is that this is one poor recipe which traditionally was prepared with two ingredients: stale bread and water.
But do we want to lose all its variants?
We will tell you in this article.
The bread
Bread is the most important ingredient: it must be stale. This dish is born, in fact, from the need to recycle dry bread and it would not make sense to prepare it with fresh bread, also because it would change taste and consistency.
In some recipes they will advise you of toast the bread in the oven then soften it in water or broth, but we like the classic version with stale bread.
That type of bread use? There is no difference since, precisely, the goal is not to throw away anything.
But avoid cereal bread, wholemeal bread and everything that is pizza or focaccia because there must not be too many flavors and seasonings.
Oil and salt
In addition to water, the other two ingredients that can be added are oil and salt, although the traditional recipe lacked because the bread is already salty (at least in northern Italy) and theextra virgin olive oil was a privilege of a few.
Desserts with stale bread: 6 recycling ideas
Pancotto recipe
To prepare the pancotto, cut the stale bread into pieces and wet it with water until it is covered.
Cook everything over medium-low heat until the bread has become a cream.
Blend it if necessary, but if the cooking has been long and slow there will be no need.
Add salt to this point if the bread was not salty and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Grated cheese was not included in the poor recipe, but we advise you to treat yourself to this luxury!
The variants
Tomato soup
In the pappa al pomodoro recipe the bread is softened with the broth and then with the tomato, finally flavored with raw oil and lots of basil. Someone also likes to add grated cheese. In this case, use Tuscan bread and fresh blanched tomato, cut into large pieces and passed through a vegetable mill.
Pangalluccio
The Abruzzese recipe is prepared without tomato, but with the addition of a clove of garlic, chilli and rosemary.
First let the diced bread fry with garlic and oil and then add water to soften everything.
Finally, season with chilli, salt and pepper.
Pancotto Pugliese
This is the richest variant because in addition to the bread in this recipe there are the vegetables.
You can add catalogna and chicory, but also potatoes, broad beans and broccoli according to some local traditions.
Pancotto with beans
This is a complete dish from the nutritional point of view because it contains a protein part thanks to legumes.
You can use borlotti beans, but if you prefer a more delicate taste also cannellini beans.
It is prepared starting from a sauté of celery, carrots and onions, adding the boiled beans and then the diced bread.
Finally, wet everything with the vegetable broth and cook. The bread must not become creamy, but remain fairly consistent.
Ribollita
An even richer version of the previous one is the classic ribollita which as a base always has stale bread, but which is enriched with many ingredients such as beans and black cabbage.
A complete soup in short, perfect on cold winter evenings.
This recipe has already been read 202 times!