Servings: 8

1kg Stale Pane Toscano - but a generic Italian loaf will do 1kg Stale Pane Toscano - but a generic Italian loaf will do
1 large red onion, chopped roughly into ¼" dice 1 large red onion, chopped roughly into ¼" dice
1 large celery stick, chopped roughly into ¼" dice 1 large celery stick, chopped roughly into ¼" dice
1 large carrot, chopped roughly into ¼" dice 1 large carrot, chopped roughly into ¼" dice
2 28oz Cans of Peeled Plum Tomatoes (see notes) 2 28oz Cans of Peeled Plum Tomatoes (see notes)
5 cloves of garlic, sliced very thin 5 cloves of garlic, sliced very thin
1 teaspoon of chili flakes (or less, or none) 1 teaspoon of chili flakes (or less, or none)
1 cup of fresh basil, torn by hand 1 cup of fresh basil, torn by hand
1½ cups of very good olive oil (yes you read that correctly) 1½ cups of very good olive oil (yes you read that correctly)
Salt Salt

Cut up the bread and submerge it in cold water to hydrate.
Puree the tomatoes. Ideally using a Mouli grater which will result in a perfect texture and remove the seeds and stem. Or you can do this by hand if you enjoy doing that. A food processor could work, but it tends to introduce air and make things pink.
Put a large soup pot over medium heat and add the chopped veggies and 1 cup of the olive oil. There should be lots more oil than you think.
Sauté the veggies, stirring frequently, until they become a nice golden color. Perhaps 15 minutes on medium or 30 if you want to take it slow over medium-low.
Add the tomatoes to the pot and stir occasionally for 15 minutes.
At this point you can also add the chili flakes if you want to add some heat to the soup.
While the tomatoes cook, drain the bread, squeeze all the water out and you should end up with a bunch of pulp.
Add the bread to the soup, starting with about ⅓ and see what you think about the thickness. Some people like really thick. Some people like it to be more smooth. I usually end up using only ½ of the bread.
Cook another 10 minutes with the bread added, stirring frequently.
Now add the garlic and basil to the pot and stir everything up.
Taste and add salt as needed. We wait on this because the bread probably adds salt and because we don't really need much if any salt.
Finally, pour the rest of really good olive oil in and stir. This step seems crazy but it is the magic moment.
Eat, topping with even more oil if you dare.

Tomatoes: I prefer Cento or SMT (the ones with white cans and red tomatoes on then). You could also just buy their crushed tomatoes and use as is and avoid the puree part completely.  Tomatoes: I prefer Cento or SMT (the ones with white cans and red tomatoes on then). You could also just buy their crushed tomatoes and use as is and avoid the puree part completely.