Mediterraner Ciabatta-Auflauf (Mediterranean ciabatta bread bake)
Stale ciabatta torn into chunks, tossed with roasted vegetables, tomatoes and cheese, and baked until the bread crisps at the edges and softens in the middle where it soaks up the tomato juices. Using genuinely stale bread rather than fresh is what lets it hold its shape instead of turning to mush.
Prep15 min
Cook20 min
Oven200°C
Servings4
Christoph's ciabatta bake, genuinely stale bread rather than fresh, which is what lets it hold its shape instead of turning to mush.
Ingredients
Written for a 28 × 20 cm dish
Units
Temperature
Servings
Bake
- 350 g stale ciabatta, torn into 3 cm chunks rounded
- 300 g cherry tomatoes, halved rounded
- 200 g zucchini, diced rounded
- 150 g red bell pepper, diced rounded
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced rounded
- 60 ml olive oil rounded
- 5 g dried oregano rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- 150 g mozzarella, torn rounded
- 15 g fresh basil (optional) rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°C. Toss the torn ciabatta, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, pepper and garlic with the olive oil, oregano and a good pinch of salt in a baking dish, spreading evenly.
- Bake 12 minutes, until the vegetables have started to soften and the bread edges are lightly toasted.
- Scatter the mozzarella over the top. Bake a further 6 to 8 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling and the bread is crisp at the edges but still soft in the centre.
- Tear fresh basil over before serving, if using.
Notes
- Use genuinely stale bread, at least a day or two old. Fresh bread has too much moisture and structure to hold up in the oven; it turns to a soggy mass instead of absorbing the tomato juices while keeping some bite.
- Do not skip tossing the bread in oil before baking. A dry chunk of bread stays hard and chalky; coated in oil, it toasts properly at the edges while softening in the middle.
- This is a good way to use up bread that would otherwise be thrown away, and the vegetables can flex depending on what is in the fridge.
- It is best eaten fresh from the oven; it does not reheat particularly well, since the bread’s texture depends on being served straight away.
Ingredient substitutions
- Ciabatta can be any rustic, open-crumbed bread; a tight-crumbed sandwich loaf does not work as well here.
- Zucchini and pepper can be any vegetables that roast in a similar time; mushrooms and red onion both work.
- Mozzarella can be any good melting cheese; a scattering of feta on top after baking is a good, sharper alternative.
From Christoph Mayer