Best Use of Stale Bread

[jdtofbna]

Yum, Weinoo, that looks fabulous! Right now I'm using stale bread to make crumbs to feed the birds out on my deck because Nashville seems to have become the North Pole . Usually I make some sort of savory bread pudding, preferably one containing a nice cheese, some sauteed mushrooms and spinach. I also make a Portuguese Fish Soup that calls for bread and is a tasty use for stale bread.

[janeer]

Many of the uses others have mentioned, particularly bread salads, but also I love pasta with browned bread crumbs and parsley.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Usually I slice it, stack it so it dries completely, and make it into breadcrumbs using a blender.

Sometimes I make bread pudding, french toast, croutons, or other things with it.

[SobaAddict70]

I don't have a pic for it (but I will this weekend b/c I'm making it for breakfast Saturday morning).

Baked Eggs with Herb-Garlic Croutons and Mushrooms

stale bread

garlic

salt

pepper

fresh herbs

mushrooms

unsalted butter

eggs

light cream

Cut thick slices from a loaf of stale bread. Trim into croutons. You can form into regular size (salad) croutons, or if you like them chunkier and larger like I do, cut into roughly 1/2" cubes.

Pre-heat oven at 325 F.

Gently heat some olive oil in a pan, add a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, maybe a crushed dried chile and some parsley. Fry until garlic is slightly golden, turn heat down a little. Add bread cubes and a touch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently or until croutons become crisp, taking care not to let them burn. Remove from heat and place on a paper towel-lined platter.

In that same pan, melt a knob of unsalted butter and some sliced mushrooms. I like to use a mix of regular button mushrooms, crimini and portobello. If you're feeling extravagant, substitute some reconstituted porcini or maybe fresh chanterelles. Cook until mushrooms become tender. Add a pinch of salt and stir in some chopped herbs -- parsley, marjoram, winter savory or thyme are all good choices.

Butter an earthenware baking dish (or maybe some ramekins). Add croutons to baking dish. Spoon mushrooms over. Make a well in the center and crack in a few eggs. Pour a tablespoon of light cream if you like. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Bake until egg yolks are set/whites are firm to the touch, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle some more chopped herbs, then serve immediately.

[forever_young_ca]

Zuni Cafe has an amazing chard, gruyere and caramelised onion panade recipe

I second the panade recipe. Cooked long and slow it melts in the mouth. Heaven!!!

[Mjx]

I dry it out completely, and save it in the freezer for the bread crumbs I need for the annual plum pudding.

[Pielle]

I make a "Carbonade Flamande" that I thicken with bread. Some old style long cooked stews use bread as a thickening agent.

[OliverB]

in tomato season, bread salad or toasted/roasted with garlic rubbed in, some olive oil s$p dribbled on. Other seasons I either wet it a bit and bake it up again - or I toss it to the birds. I hardly ever use breadcrumbs for no particular reason, and if I do I like panko. But then, stale bread is rather rare, my kids are breadaholics and I'm always wishing to turn into more of a baker than the every other year or so loaf. Or Brezeln, as in my little avatar, haven't made those in a long time. Hmmmm. Maybe this weekend?

[Foodietopo]

I don't remember how they call it in Japan, but you can often find thin slices of stale bread that has been turned into a sweet crouton. It's pretty much a thin slice of bread with sugar on it. My wife made it once she pretty much sprinkled sugar on the bread and left it for a little while in the toaster oven. Nice way to use stale bread.

[baroness]

I don't remember how they call it in Japan, but you can often find thin slices of stale bread that has been turned into a sweet crouton. It's pretty much a thin slice of bread with sugar on it. My wife made it once she pretty much sprinkled sugar on the bread and left it for a little while in the toaster oven. Nice way to use stale bread.

The bakeries in the Midwest used to, and may still for all I know, sell bags of dry, very crunchy cinnamon toast. I presume they were made from leftover bread. I always wondered how they made the topping stick, as there was no discernable butter - or any other than sugar and spice - flavor.

[plum tart]

Melba toast, bread and parsley dumplings, toasted bread crumbs for pasta and gratins, meatloaf, meat balls and bread pudding.

[ScoopKW]

I almost always make croutons with my stale bread.

I LOVE croutons -- as a snack, in stuffing, on salads, as a snack, with beer, dontchaknow.

[Snadra]

Melba toast, bread and parsley dumplings, toasted bread crumbs for pasta and gratins, meatloaf, meat balls and bread pudding.

It's something I haven't made myself, but bread dumplings came to mind for me too (or bread gnocchi)! Do you have a specific recipe for these you're willing to share? Bread dumplings were a favourite of mine growing up, but they always came from a packet.

Other things I like:

Queen of Puddings - the nice thing about it is that it changes character depending on the flavour of jam you're using.

Bread sauce - classic accompaniment to roast chicken, although I've not made it myself, it really is delicious.

French Toast/Pain Perdu - I think it needs stale bread to be its best, and the best thing is you can do it with almost any kind of stale bread - there's even a german version using rye bread. Leftover Pannetone makes a nice holiday version, but my favourite was using italian bread for a savoury french toast sauteed in olive oil and served with roasted tomatoes & wilted spinach.

[plum tart]

Melba toast, bread and parsley dumplings, toasted bread crumbs for pasta and gratins, meatloaf, meat balls and bread pudding.

It's something I haven't made myself, but bread dumplings came to mind for me too (or bread gnocchi)! Do you have a specific recipe for these you're willing to share? Bread dumplings were a favourite of mine growing up, but they always came from a packet.

Other things I like:

Queen of Puddings - the nice thing about it is that it changes character depending on the flavour of jam you're using.

Bread sauce - classic accompaniment to roast chicken, although I've not made it myself, it really is delicious.

French Toast/Pain Perdu - I think it needs stale bread to be its best, and the best thing is you can do it with almost any kind of stale bread - there's even a german version using rye bread. Leftover Pannetone makes a nice holiday version, but my favourite was using italian bread for a savoury french toast sauteed in olive oil and served with roasted tomatoes & wilted spinach.

I've always wanted to make Queen of Puddings. Now I have an excuse.

I had Pain Perdue with seared foie gras with poached pears and a maple syrup reduction, on Sunday last - it was delicious.

I will dig up the bread dumpling recipe. It is from Time Life Foods of the World Austria if I recall. They are especially delicious with roast goose and duck!

[Jim Dixon]

Spanish style migas

Cajun Migas

Migas with Ham

[Smithy]

Time to bump this topic.

 

On 1/10/2011 at 3:24 PM, rarerollingobject said:

Bread puddings, both savoury and sweet, definitely. Zuni Cafe has an amazing chard, gruyere and caramelised onion panade recipe, for when you're not feeling so eggy, demo'd here.

Other than that, I've recently discovered that bread crumbs make an amazing soup thickener, a handful or two sprinkled into the cooked soup and softened a little before blitzing.

I also love pan frying an egg in seasoned bread crumbs and thyme, another Zuni idea.

 

On 2/1/2011 at 10:58 PM, forever_young_ca said:

I second the panade recipe. Cooked long and slow it melts in the mouth. Heaven!!!

 

Over here I've been dithering whether to use some unwanted white bread to make a panade or a strata. Last night I opted for the panade, based on the Zuni Cafe's recipe. I played fast and loose with it: there were onions, fennel bulbs, green onions, and chard (stems and all) that needed to be used. I had corn stock and chicken stock. And that white bread, cubed. I didn't bother cutting the crusts off.

 

This Zuni Cafe recipe is good as a guide and inspiration, rather than a formula to be followed strictly as written. We loved the results. The panade was sturdy enough to serve as our only course. We are delighted that there are leftovers!

 

[heidih]

There is no stale bread in my world. Lop/break off a piece, get your hands really wet or if like a brick run it under the faucet for a sec, wrap in foil - into toaster oven or heat of choice, Almost like new.  That zuni rough recipe does sound like a tasty meal with a tartly dressed salad.

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

We are delighted that there are leftovers!

And did you notice the use for leftovers in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook? (My all-time favourite cookbook.) “What isn’t consumed in second helpings has a future still: it is delicious panfried...”

[Hassouni]

Can't believe I never did this before - I cut up some week-ish old sourdough and stuck it under a spatchcocked chicken I was roasting, along with some various veg. So, so good.

[gfweb]

Stale bread chunks are a reward for Henry the airedale.

Come when I call there's bread in it for you.

[heidih]

What a good lad - he waits to be invited

[Smithy]

On 11/23/2020 at 12:01 PM, Anna N said:

And did you notice the use for leftovers in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook? (My all-time favourite cookbook.) “What isn’t consumed in second helpings has a future still: it is delicious panfried...”

 

This sounds soooooo good. As with most recipes or procedures of my experience, it still allows for mistakes. (It seems I learn through trial,error and repetition.) I got a bit carried away with the oil tonight. Still tasty, but I had to work to remove excess oil...and still had overdark surfaces. 

 

 

I'll know better next time. It still tasted good!

[gfron1]

Peruvian Aji de Gallina always uses day old bread.

 

Right now I'm testing recipes for doing similar things with fruitcake. Ideas welcome

[Anna N]

30 minutes ago, gfron1 said:

Peruvian Aji de Gallina always uses day old bread.

Had to look that one up but it sure does sound tasty. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Anna N (log)

[gfron1]

33 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Had to look that one up but it sure does sound tasty. 

In a previous life when I was trying to become a professional climber/alpinist, I spent quite a bit of time down in Peru, and my hub was the Comboni monastery where their local cook taught me all sorts of recipes - all peasant food, not fancy. Aji de Gallina was one of the weekly standards.