Many people consider bread as a staple that shouldn’t be neglected or, else, overlooked (even when it’s not in its best form), because for many centuries it has been literally saving lives, and we should be thankful. It’s no accident that people of the world have created so many indicative proverbs, like ‘bread is the staff of life’, ‘a piece of bread in your pocket is better than a feather in your hat’ (what is that supposed to mean btw?). We treat bread with reverence. Many of us won’t have the heart to throw it away, but, still, sometimes we don’t finish it on time and it goes stale.
Especially for such people, we prepared a list with easy recipes. Follow them if you feel like your bread isn’t fresh enough to be eaten as is, and you don’t know what to do with it.
The most obvious thing is breadcrumbs. You can crumble bread with your bare hands or throw it in a food processor and then to lightly brown all available pieces in the oven. Don’t forget to mix them with some herbs, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. And that’s a whole new level.
Don’t want to crumble anything? Slice your old bread and carve pieces into whatever figures you like, smear them with some butter, and bake. Voila, croutons are ready. Toss them in Caesar salad or garnish your favorite creamy soup.
Or you can tear your ciabatta into chunks, mix it with tomatoes and season with the simplest vinaigrette – a mixture of 1 part vinegar or lemon juice with 3 parts oil together with some spices and mustard. It’s called Panzanella – a Toscan chopped salad. Cucumbers, basil, mozzarella, tuna, parsley, eggs, mint, peppers, and whatnot are always welcome. But the basic recipe is a must-try.
Want something sweet? Not a problem: mix milk with eggs and butter, sugar and vanillin, and pour this mixture onto bread and bake it. Bread pudding is hot and ready!
Or you can take stale bread and slice it into regular toasts, soak them in the same mixture as above and fry’em in a skillet. Drizzle with honey, apple jam or topinambur syrup – you’ve got a French toast right in front of you.
For traditions lovers we have a gorgeous variant too – homemade bread kvass. Hot water, sugar, yeasts and sultanas – and you are in the brewery business.
What do you think?