# Gazpacho - Thicken with bread or not?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 2, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004 "2012-07-02T14:57:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004/1 "2012-07-02T14:57:16Z")

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It’s summertime, and the beautiful tomatoes are starting to show up here in Jersey. I would love to make gazpacho, so I looked for some recipes online and was surprised to see that they didn’t call for adding chunks of stale bread as a thickener.

Am I remembering something wrong? Do you add bread? This is such a wonderful refreshing vegatarian meal so I thought I’d throw this out to the foodies out there.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004/2 "2012-07-02T15:04:36Z")

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I always thought the point of gazpacho was to have a light, chilled liquidy but flavorful broth, laden with veggies to give it body. To me, a thicker broth would not say _gazpacho_. YMMV.

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**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004/3 "2012-07-02T16:33:07Z")

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Never heard of adding bread. I think that would make it too heavy.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004/4 "2012-07-02T16:40:14Z")

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I followed a recipe last year that involved stale bread, crust removed. You chopped up the bread, soaked it in water, then squeezed out excess water. The bread was added and stick-blendered. The texture was very nice.

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**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004/5 "2012-07-02T17:18:51Z")

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Thank you all. As you pointed out, the appeal of this dish is the texture, as well as the taste. I think I’m just going to make it up, add some bread, try it and tweak along the way. I am totally stoked for a meal where I don’t have to heat up the stove.

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**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004/6 "2012-07-02T23:03:33Z")

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> [@OtisCampbellWasRight](#):
>
> Thank you all. As you pointed out, the appeal of this dish is the texture, as well as the taste. I think I’m just going to make it up, add some bread, try it and tweak along the way. I am totally stoked for a meal where I don’t have to heat up the stove.

America’s Test Kitchen just did gazpacho - they suggest salting the chopped vegetables for some time before putting in the blender and sopping up the juices from the veggies with a piece of bread. Every time I’ve made it, I also use a piece of bread.

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**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gazpacho-thicken-with-bread-or-not/627004/7 "2012-07-02T23:18:14Z")

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I have used bread as a gazpacho spoon, but never added it to the actual recipe.