Coronavirus restriction is still around, making supermarket visits is more like going to a war zone. As a result, we tend to buy everything in bulk to avoid going to the supermarket too often. Including bread. But unlike other long-lasting food, bread lasts just a few days and gets staled easily.
Below are easy to follow recipes and instructions on how to repurpose stale bread. Feel free to modify and experiment with your own likings and styles (by adding or removing certain ingredients like garlic if you don’t like garlic).
1. Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are useful to make meatballs, chicken schnitzels, Japanese tonkatsu, stuffings, etc. Here is how to make breadcrumbs easily.
2. Bread Pudding
There are websites promising ‘easy’ bread pudding recipe but when I looked at them, they have so many ingredients I don’t have, such as demerara sugar, muscovado sugar, peel. Peel. Who on earth likes peels? OK many people like peels. But not me.
This simple blueberry bread pudding recipe is easy, the ingredients are basic and I believe we all have these ingredients at home.
I’ve tried it, and it’s delicious. Don’t worry about the bourbon sauce (that the recipe suggests), it’s already delicious without it.
If you prefer savoury bread pudding, try this chicken and spinach one.
3. French Toast
It’s very easy to make a french toast. You get a loaf of stale bread, soak them into a mixture of eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla, then shallow fry them in a griddle oiled with butter. Yum!
Here is an easy to follow recipe that I’ve tried and tested. Don’t worry about the mixture that requires heavy cream. I just used milk as I had no cream and they’re delicious regardless.
4. Croutons
Croutons, originally from France, are delicious eaten with soup. There are two easy ways of making them: shallow fry them with butter and bake them.
Baking is a healthier option as it requires less fat, but if you want to indulge yourself once in a while, of course, try the deep fry method as it’s faster (and oilier).
The shallow fry method is simply frying the chopped stale bread with olive oil and butter on a stovetop pan. Here is how.
I’ve tried the baked one from this recipe and it’s delicious. If you like garlic taste, this recipe is perfect.
5. Crostini
The making of these Italian crackers is simple: slice the stale bread, brush both sides of the bread with olive oil and bake in the oven for 180°C for 7-10 minutes until golden brown. Here is the recipe.
You can sprinkle the crackers with herbs and rub it with garlic for extra flavour. Here are the recipes.
6. Bruschetta
The most common type of this Italian grilled bread is the one with tomato and basil and here is the recipe of antipasto bruschetta.
7. Italian Fried Mozzarella Sandwich
All you need for this Italian style sandwich is stale white sandwich bread, eggs, flour, milk, and of course, the cheese, which is mozzarella ball (or buffalo mozzarella, or fior di latte). Here is how to do it.
8. Ribollita
This Italian bread and bean soup is vegetarian friendly. It’s great comfort food and it’s low fat. It’s as simple as putting the torn stale bread in the middle of the cooking process. Here is an instruction on how to do it.
9. Semmelknödel
This is a German recipe, it’s basically bread dumplings. We soak diced dried bread rolls into a mix of stir-fried onions, butter, fresh parsley, milk, eggs, salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg, and then knead them, shape them into tennis (or ping pong) ball size lumps and put them in a pan filled with simmering salted water for 20 minutes. The heat has to be low and the water must not boil or you risk the dumpling fall apart.
Here is an instruction on how to do it.
10. Cinnamon Sugar Crisp
If you like to eat something sweet while drinking your coffee, this cinnamon sugar crisp is a perfect one.
