One of the downfalls of baking homemade bread, or getting the really good bread from the farmer’s market, is that it tends to get stale much faster than the preservative-laden, mass produced variety. Don’t throw it out, however–here are some ways you can make use of bread that’s not so fresh.
Before we proceed, I should mention that we are talking about bread that’s a wee bit on the hard side, not bread with mold on it. Unlike cheese, it’s not a good idea to try to cut off moldy parts and save the rest.
You knew I was going to say this, right? It’s the traditional thing to do with stale bread, and it’s great in soup and salad (two things we’ve already covered in this Back to Basics series).
2. Make bread crumbs.
I have to confess, I’ve never done this. Everyone says it’s so easy. But I just don’t use breadcrumbs that often. We grill most of our meats and the last time I made something with breadcrumbs it was part of a giveaway I did for Panko. I still have most of the box left, even after using it for a couple of meatloaves. However, if you have children or like things with breadcrumbs all you have to do is dry in an oven at 250F, and crush in a blender or food processor, adding seasonings as desired. If you’re making meatloaf, you can actually just chop up the stale bread and you don’t need to make it into crumbs.
3. Make toast.
Another sort of obvious option. Put it in the toaster and voila! It’s supposed to be dry and crackly.
4. Make french toast.
Covered in egg and raw maple syrup, who wouldn’t love it?
5. Make bread pudding.
One of my favorites is Savory Squash bread pudding. I’ve also been tempted by some of the sweet bread pudding recipes that feature alcohol like this one.
6. Make fondue.
Another one I haven’t tried, even though I do have a fondue pot. However, toast it a bit and it would theoretically make a great gooey cheese dipper. Then again what isn’t better dipped in cheese?
7. Make an appetizer.
Slice in a pretty round or on an angle and top with bruschetta.
8. Make panzanella.
An Italian salad that actually works better with stale bread as it holds up to the dressing without getting soggy.
9. Throw it in soup.
It makes a great thickener, and you can save the crackers for another day.
10. Throw it in the freezer to deal with later.
Only sort of kidding. If you notice it going stale, though, and want to make croutons or crumbs, it’s a good idea to throw it in the freezer for a day when you have time to get the oven going.
What are YOUR favorite ways to use stale bread?
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I put stale bread in a ziploc bag, seal it and then smush it into rough size bread crumbs. Then keep it in the freezer till I need it for meatballs, a topping, etc. Easy and NOT wasteful!
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A suggestion from Anja Mast — cube or tear into pieces those dried-out ends before they go moldy, throw them in a bag in the freezer, and when you’ve accumulated a full bag (the more variety, the better), make a strata. Kind of like bread pudding, almost always savory, and usually higher egg-to-milk/cream ratio than bread pudding. Yup, this is the stuff of the infamous Overnight Brunch Casserole, but Anja has an Italian Greens version that’s to die for. Another of her suggestions is to grab artisan bread on sale (day-old, whatever), tear it up, freeze it and then you’ve it ready to go for strata or pudding AND at a savings. Gotta love that… Oh, and if your stale, hard bread is pita, it’s great for making fatoush, something like a “Middle Eastern panzanella.” Great post!
Around here it gets fed to the farm animals. Quick and easy disposal while still being put to good use.