old baguettes

[smilingal]

I have a couple of old baguettes from the bakery - stale - hard - would you make breadcrumbs in the food processor with them or throw them out?

[LJS]

This would be considered a prized ingredient in Apullia in Italy where POLPETTE DI PANE is a very popular dish (as it is in my house).

Although La Cucina (the bible for Italian regioanl cooking) demands that you grate the bread, in our home we simply soaked the stale bread pieces in a little warm milk, and mashed it with our bare hands...maybe 6 pieces of baguette to a quarter cup of milk

You then add 2 (or as many) beaten eggs as needed to 'bind' the bread into a sticky dough, adding a generous tablespoon of pecorino (or any other sharp, dryish cheese (grated).

If you have some fresh basil or oregano, work a tbsp of that in as well. Salt and pepper to taste. Form dough into egg-sized balls. Press lightly into discs and brown in olive oil until slightly crisp and lightly browned.

Serve with any good tomato sauce heated. (I use a rich, but meatless tomato sauce with a hearty dose of onions as that is traditional, but any will do.)

Serve with a green salad and a good red wine!

[smilingal]

thanks so much to all of you - so now the question is..... how stale is still usable? I like the idea of soaking, perhaps even overnight, for a frenchtoast casserole or like, but the breads are already 10 days old. We wouldn't use them for breakfast till the weekend - although with the snowstorm we are anticipating maybe tomorrow will be a sleep-in morning!

[ipsedixit]

As long they are not moldy, the staler the better for french toast in my opinion. Nothing a good soaking in some milk and egg can't cure ...

[jhopp217]

If they are not rock hard, you can sometimes microwave them quickly and they will soften up. I do this with stale bagels all the time. Nuke em (they get a little mushy) and then toast them lightly (as not to let them get rock hard again).

[Karl S]

Sprinkle them with water and cover with a towel and put in a moderate oven is a classic truc.

[sancan]

Pain perdu! Lost bread. It's the real name of French toast. And I only use stale baguettes for bread pudding. It's strong enough not to turn into that gummy mess that bread pudding can become, and results in a light fluffy bread pudding. Wish I had a stale baguette now!

[Karl S]

The point of loaf-breads for most of history was to be used in stale form. Eating bread while it was still fresh was something of a temporary luxury.

Slice for use as soup croutons.

[Johnny West]

You bet, I've been wanting to slice and dry some baguettes
to try with Julia Child's bouillabaisse, ever since I saw her
old tutorial on PBS.

[ipsedixit]

Eh, don't waste a good crusty (even hard) baguette on bread crumbs.

Make french toast or bread pudding.

God allowed air and bread products to co-exist for this very purpose.

[femmevox]

Rock hard? No problem! Saw through with a serrated knife and make bread soup.

Soak in water or milk and use for a binder in chicken croquettes or meat balls.

Saw rounds, brown under a toaster oven or in a skillet (olive oil) and use on top of onion soup (let it soak to soften in the soup.)

Cut cubes, make croutons.

Don't throw it out--your party's just beginning.

[Johnny West]

If we don't use a baguette right away I will cut them up
into cube and dry in the oven for dressing. We'll also
grind up for filler for meat loaf and coating for snitzel
or pork tenderloins. Large croutons I'll fry in a little evoo,
garlic and basil and put in caesar salade.

[rcallner]

Johnny's idea is a good one - also consider this - when you have a fresh baguette and you cannot finish it, slice it and freeze it in a sealed bag or other container. It will thaw promptly in a toaster oven or oven oven and take kindly and promptly to your next use, especially one with a tasty spread.

[Uncle Bob]

Consider bread pudding.........

[mrsfury]

Yes indeed. You can have my raisins though.

[Uncle Bob]

Mine too..........

Enjoy!

[Cherylptw]

I'd make them into breadcrumbs or slice them thick with a serrated knife and use in a strata or bread pudding.

[chef chicklet]

I have one here too, it could chip a tooth. I'm going to make breadcrumbs and then use the breadcrumbs for meat mixes or for making browned butter crumbs to top off\ vegetables or pasta etc. I use my stale bread all the time.

[Isolda]

If they're rock hard, toss 'em. If they're just hard on the outside, cut off the two ends and discard them, then cut the rest into bits and process in the fp, then freeze. Most of my frozen breadcrumbs are from stale baguettes.

[LauraGrace]

Breadcrumbs, totally. Probably wouldn't use them to bread anything fancy, but as filler in meatballs or salmon cakes or whatever, they'll be fine.

[Vetter]

I agree. Just hard, no mold? Nature's way of giving you breadcrumbs.