Old Bread - New (I mean new) Uses?

[sasha1]

Hi all,

I'm actually a pro at using up old bread, as I have a family that loves a good bakery loaf and in fact an 8 y.o. who refuses to eat any other kind of bread. It's just that I have leftover every week, which I slice (or sledgehammer into crumbs), and I am getting sick of my 10 or so uses for it. By the way, if you only have 1/4-1/3 of a loaf left and it's not enough to work with, I generally keep it in a ziplock in the fridge or freezer and let it accumulate for a few weeks before using it.

So here are my 10 or so uses. Please share yours. I'm ready to be inspired.

If the bread was really old and just shattered, the breadcrumbs go in a meatball or meatloaf recipe.
If the bread was an herb/garlic/onion type loaf, I'll use it in stuffing. I usually make onion/celery with chicken broth or leek/mushroom with white wine.
Sometimes I use the old chunks to thicken a soup.
Sometimes if the chunks aren't too hard, I'll throw them in a vinagrette based salad (like a panzanella or antipasto).
If it's straight up french, multigrain, or sourdough, I'll do french toast and sweet bread pudding.

What's a strata? Is this like a savory bread pudding? More eggy than a stuffing? That is a possibility. What else do you all do with your old bread? If you do what I do, tell me what ingredients you pair the bread with!

[paulj]

Spanish migas - bread crumbs moistened and fried with peppers, garlic and sausage (chorizo).

[runwestierun]

OK, this may seem fussy, but it's something I do for purely visual appeal. I cut old bread into sticks, longer than a finger but about as thick. This works best with stale but not crumbly bread. Then sometime when I have the grill going, I carefully grill the bread to get a striped pattern. I lightly oil the bread and lay it on a med high grill perpendicular to the grill grate. I wait til there are black lines, then I roll the bread to the next side carefully, so the "stripes" line up. Then I do the third side, then the fourth-- and the fourth side lines up and connects to the first line if I've done this perfectly. The big bread "french fries" look like they have horizontal stripes all around them, very pretty.

I put the grilled striped bread in the freezer. When I need it I thaw it and refresh it in a lightly oiled saute pan. At that time I season the bread to go with my dip. I typically serve it in a glass like a bread stick with crudites and some kind of dip or spread. It's funky and festive!

[Cherylptw]

I like to make stuffed french toast with either french or italian bread loaf; cut into 1 1/2 inch slices then cut a pocket in center of each slice; whip up some cream cheese or marscapone..add fruit & spices of choice & stuff pockets. Then make a regular french toast custard, dip & cook

You could also make mini grilled cheese or other sandwiches (try using a cookie cutter for different shapes) using any kind of leftover bread..you can also use these shapes to make a base for hors devoures (toast first). Cut bread into strips or shapes, toast for dips

Lastly, Ina Garten makes a delicious summer pudding using various fruits & brioche but I've subbed french bread with great results: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/in...

[sasha1]

I was just laughing to myself imagining how I might use a chainsaw to cut a pocket in my bread slices for stuffed french toast. Cheryl, I guess your bread never gets as stale as my bread!

[jnine]

I made an amazing strata once with mixed mushrooms, rosemary and gruyere. Lets see if I can find that recipe?

How about croutons?

Make onion soup!

[Pia]

Panade/strata/bread pudding -- all the custardy bready dishes came immediately to mind. But what about a panzanella (or non-Italian bread salad, like the one in the Zuni cookbook that everyone raves about)? Or you could grind it up in a romesco sauce. Similarly, I've also seen some spicy tomato soup recipes that use ground-up bread.

A few recipes (I haven't made these, but I've made similar ones -- this is just to get an idea):
Zuni bread salad (and chicken): http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/12/zuni-cafe-roast-chicken-bread-salad/
Romesco: http://www.chow.com/recipes/10752-roasted-shrimp-with-romesco-sauce
Soup: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[sasha1]

Hi Pia,
Thanks for the tips. I make a wonderful bread salad in the summer with tomatos, basil, onions, garlic, sometimes olives or cukes, and a balsamic/evoo oil. Delicious. Other times of the year, I've done a bread salad with salami, chick peas, roasted peppers, and maybe some parm chunks.

On the soup front, the bread is nice as a thickener from minestrone to pasta e fagioli to just plain chicken soup. Try sometime sauteeing some garlic in oil, add a can of diced tomatoes, some stale bread chunks, and finish with basil. Super yummy.

I stay away from romesco because my son - the bread gourmet - has nut allergies.

[dmd_kc]

sasha1, you can make your romesco without nuts. Just increase the breadcrumbs. It's still delicious, and has far fewer calories that way, too.

[Pia]

Thank you for the tips! That bread salad with salami sounds great -- I'll have to try it.

[greygarious]

I had the idea of riffing on strata by using cream of tomato soup as part of the custard., toasting the stale bread, and layering with cheese and cooked bacon. This came out really well. You could use other pureed soups in the custard, pairing with the appropriate cheese and, if desired thinly-sliced or shredded meat.

Thoroughly stale, or toasted, bread can be pulverized and mixed with melted butter as a pat-in-the-pan crust for quiche. The custard will sink into the crumbs but will bake into a solid, so it can be neatly sliced.

[4Snisl]

This panade recipe is one of those delicious dishes where the sum is better than the individual ingredients going in....it is savory and hearty without being a total gut bomb.

http://orangette.blogspot.com/2005/10...

[sasha1]

Oh yeah - that sounds awesome. Very similar to the savory bread pudding with asparagus, morels, and cheese in Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable book. My weird family didn't like it, but I could make a batch of this and secretely eat it for lunch all week long!!!

[weem]

I read somewhere that French toast was created as a means for using up old stale bread. Soaking it in the milk/egg mixture before cooking it softens it up. It might not make for a restaurant-quality plate of French toast, but it's another option for your list.

[sasha1]

Yep, I'm all about the french toast. Thank you.

[weem]

Oh, oops, I read your original post, but obviously I didn't read it carefully enough. LOL

Right after posting the French toast suggestion I sat down to browse through "The American History Cookbook", by Mark H. Zanger, which I picked up at the library. It has a recipe called Queen Esther's Bread from an 1847 cookbook called "The Carolina Housewife", by Sarah Rutledge. The recipe is apparently from Charleston's Sephardic Jewish community, and is says similar recipes from that era were described as Jewish. It says that throughout most of that century it was called German Toast, and only around the end of the 1800s did it commonly start to be known as French Toast. (Not that that helps you get rid of your stale bread, I just found it interesting.)

[bushwickgirl]

That is interesting! I would never have thought that Charleston would have had a Sephardic Jewish community at any point in history. Thank you for posting that tidbit.

[weem]

Neither did I. According to this book (and I haven't researched this further), the Sephardic Jewish community in Charleston dated back to the late 1600s, and until the 1840s was the largest in the U.S. The things you learn from reading cookbooks!

[bushwickgirl]

That's quite incredible; shows you what the promise of being able to freely practice your religion, in a new country, means to humans.

[aggiecat]

Oh so many uses, so little time...

So my favorite strata uses swiss, ham, and eggs. It's pretty much the ratio of a frittata with more milk and stale bread, layered together, but i've also seen it done bread pudding style too.

Before the bread ge's rock hard and you just know it's not going to get eatten before that happens, make melba toasts. For savory breads, you can add butter/olive oil or leave plain. Simply slice thinly and bake at 250 for as long as it takes to drive the moisture out all the way through turn them over every so often. Can take 1-2 hours depending on humidity of air and moisture level of bread. They should never get more than very lightly golden brown. You will be amazed. They will go from what will otherwise turn into rock hard lumps to crispy toasts. Sweet or plain breads stand up well to the addition of butter and sugar/spice mixtures (Cinnamon and sugar, Sugar and Allspice,) whatever combo rocks your world. These are basically bread rusks. Depending on how long they last, and at my house they don't last long, you can keep in a cool dry pantry or in the fridge or freezer to help keep them taste freshest longest. If you add oil, the cooler is better to prevent rancid flavors from creeping in.

Use these toasts anywhere you would use a cracker or toast point for any kind of spread from humble peanut butter to fancy schmancy pates. They are great topped with sliced cheese, spreadable cheese or broiled cheese and served alongside or on top of soups and stews. The sweet ones with cinnamon and sugar are marvelous as an after school/work snack with milk or cocoa and you could even use thicker toasts made from challa or brioche or a sweet bread to replace ladyfingers in all tiramasu and trifle apps. Just cut them to the ladyfinger shap you need and Hey presto, instant ladyfingers. if they need to be softer, simply moisten with milk until they soften up to the necessary consistency.

And last of all, you can use stale bread to made up a stash of croutons! Alton Brown of FN had a whole segment of making croutons. Even if he talks about using fresher bread, simply substitute stale and adjust cooking times as necessary. Or just spracy/coat the cubes with oil, toss with seasonings and bake as per melba toasts, you can go a little hotter but the goal is still to drive out all moisture you can. Bag, tag and park in the frigdge or freezer for instant salad gratification.

If you want seasoned breadcrumbs, just take the croutons to the food processor and hey presto, dried crumbs. Want them more panko style, then use sharp whacks of a rolling pin on the bag.

Want sweet crumbs for a pie crust or streusle topping, then put the sweet melbas into action in place of graham crackers.

And my favorite app is still, bread pudding, lovely with diced apples or dried cranberries and a rum or whiskey sauce. Super yum.

I keep a baggie in the freezer of all my crust cuttings, loaf ends, getting stale and not going to get to them loaves etc. and then pick a nice clear evening i'm going to be home to made toasts and croutons. when the store has a monster sale or promp on their whole wheat bread I stock up and stash as many loaves as possible in the freezer. Eventually if they don't get used before they aren't fit for "fresh" bread then they get melba-ed or crouton-ed at some point.

[sasha1]

Melba toast is a great idea, and one I had totally forgotten. It kind of brings me back to childhood memories. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, who were on food assistance and got those huge bricks of american cheese. My grandpa would buy 3 for $1 "french bread" (remember that?), slice them and the cheese thin, put a cheese slice on a bread slice, and bake it low and slow until the cheese was the texture of jerky and the bread was a crunch cracker. Like low budget cheese thins w/o all the processed crap. Of course, the cheese was processed crap. But, still, a taste and memory of childhood. Thanks!

[aggiecat]

Yes, that sound guiltily delicious to me too. I've going to do a welsh rabbit tonight and serve with toasts instead of chewy fresh bread 'cause- I got cheese. I got beer and I don't got fresh good chewy bread.

Foodie meets reality and you do what you gotta do. Also, I have trouble with the gluten structure (not the actual presence of gluten) in fresh breads so I can eat toast and crackers but not fresh bread. I'm getting to be quite adept at putting toasts to new uses.

[hazelhurst]

Kvass..see any Russian website.

[todao]

Toss it in a plastic bag with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, then dump it into a bowl and pour hot milk over it for breakfast. My father called it "graveyard stew" (that was 1938). Mix in a few coarsely chopped nuts and/or shredded coconut if you like that sort of thing.

[boyzoma]

My mom used to call it milk toast - only it got toasted, buttered, cut in squares, put in a bowl, sprinkled with regular sugar on it and then the hot milk poured over it. We ate this at least once a week for breakfast growing up. Thanks for the memories!