And dress the salad.

In a large mixing bowl, toss the fennel, onion, if using, and cucumbers with the reserved basil chiffonade, sliced peppers and remaining Early Girl tomatoes. Add the bread and half the dressing. Toss with your hands to fully coat the bread.

Gently mix in the cherry tomatoes, remaining dressing and about 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss gently to coat again. Taste and adjust seasoning – if needed, add more oil or vinegar.

Transfer the panzanella to a platter and finish with the grilled stone fruit and scattered spoonfuls of cheese. Let the salad sit at least 10-15 minutes before serving.

After you toss in the pureed tomato mixture, you’ll hear that the bread is still clunky as you’re mixing it, Perello explains. That’s why you let the salad sit after it’s fully dressed — the bread will soak up the dressing and soften a bit. You want it to still be crisp on the outside, but saturated within. Timing is key – the salad will get better as it sits, but if you do it too far in advance, like the night before, it will lose its crunch. “It all depends on how important that is to you,” Perello says.

Add the more fragile ingredients, like the halved cherry tomatoes and the stone fruit, at the end, so they don’t get crushed into the salad.

The ratio of this salad is about two-thirds bread to one-third tomatoes before adding the other ingredients. But, feel free to adjust.