If you follow my blog or my Instagram, by now you probably already know that I am a big and unconditional fan of bruschetta. Over the past three years, I’ve posted several recipes that included bruschetta. To celebrate that my blog turns three years old, this post, with tips on how to prepare the perfect bruschetta.
12 months have come and gone and I just can’t believe that a whole year has passed since I wrote about this. I still remember very clearly I wrote about how grateful I was to this community and to the people who encouraged me to start in the first place. I was thankful for having been able to meet so many people, for the photoshoots and satisfied for all the gastronomic content I had the chance to produce.
Fortunately, since last year things have just gotten better and I now am enjoying some great collaborations, photographing for online shops, or creating recipes for blogs of companies. For one of these clients, I even developed a recipe for –you guessed it- a bruschetta!
Now, it would be really easy to say “I’ll just prepare a bruschetta and that’s it”. It’s only a humble Italian toast, after all. But there are some important and valuable tips to prepare the perfect bruschetta that I want to share so that yours come out more delicious.
The first thing you have to take into account is of course the bread. Many people use bread from the previous day and it is in fact a great way to use up day-old bread. But if you have the possibility of making the bruschetta with fresh sourdough bread, by all means, do it. Try to avoid bread made with refined flour, sandwich bread, or supermarket toasted bread, because they are not appropriate for bruschettas.
Next: preparation of the bread. It must be hot and crisp. You can use the oven or a grill pan. Cut thick slices and toast them for two minutes on each side, until they are golden brown but the crumb is still tender.
What to put on the bread depends on your particular tastes, but it’s incredibly delicious if you just drizzle it with a little oil, add some salt and rub it with a garlic clove. In Italy it is very typical, in summer, to have it with fresh tomato on top, small basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.
Finally, when preparing the perfect bruschetta, you must remember that the temperature is important. The best time to have your bread is right after you’ve prepared it and added the ingredients on top. Not only does it taste better while still warm, but you also want to avoid the crumb from becoming too bland.
And now, I’m sharing some ideas for bruschettas that I particularly love:
Bruschetta with caper pesto, cherry tomatoes, and grilled aubergines. Just two of these and you’ll feel you’ve had a full meal
Bruschetta with goat cheese, pear, pumpkin seeds, and fresh thyme. If you use smaller bread, this recipe can be a delicious light meal or a great starter.
Bruschetta with red apple and homemade almond butter. A healthy recipe, because you can prepare the butter yourself and combine it with other things for breakfast or a quick mid-afternoon snack.
Bruschettina with seed bread, cottage cheese, basil leaves, raspberries, and blackberries. For berries lovers like me!
Buon appetito!
