Not sure what to do with the loaf of yesterday's bread in the pantry? Why not try some of these great recipes using stale bread.
No-one likes to waste food, but leftover bread that is no longer fresh enough for sandwiches often finds its way into the rubbish bin. There are several ways to use up stale bread in both sweet and savoury recipes.
Bread and butter pudding, also known as bread and butter custard, is a traditional British dessert also enjoyed in Australia.
Traditional Bread and Butter Pudding
Bread, sliced thinly (at least 8 slices)
½ cup currants, raisins or sultanas (or a mixture)
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 cups milk
2 eggs
nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180C (375F). Butter a ceramic square or rectangular dish.
Butter slices of bread and lay them in the prepared pie dish.
Sprinkle some currants, raisins and/or sultanas over the bread. Repeat layers of bread and dried fruit, finishing with a layer of bread (butter side down).
Whisk together eggs and sugar. Add milk and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Pour over layered bread. Lightly sprinkle nutmeg over the top.
Stand pie dish in a baking tray of boiling water. The water should come half way up the sides of the pie dish. Place into the oven and bake until set (approximately 40 minutes).
Serve warm on its own or with ice-cream or cream.
Variations – spread apricot or strawberry jam over bread after buttering and/or include diced dried apricots with dried fruit. When serving to adults, add a measure of whisky or brandy to the egg mixture before pouring over the bread.
Traditional Bavarian bread dumplings (Semmelknoedel) are served with roast meat and gravy in Germany, but can also be teamed with a hearty winter stew or goulash.
Bread Dumplings
½ loaf (8-10 slices) day-old white bread or equivalent in bread rolls
125ml warm milk
2 eggs
1 tbsp flour
Salt & pepper
Directions:
Dice bread into 1cm cubes or tear into small pieces.
Pour over milk and allow to soak into the bread.
Place a large pot of water on to boil.
Add eggs, flour and seasoning to bread mix. Combine until the mixture form a sticky dough-like consistency (it is best to use hands for this).
Form handfuls of mixture into firm balls.
Place dumplings into the pot of hot water, lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Dumplings are cooked when they rise to the surface and slowly spin.
Cooked onion and bacon can be added to the dumpling mix for extra flavour.
Leftover dumplings can be sliced and fried in butter for a tasty side-dish to grilled meat.
Quick Uses for Stale Bread
Remove crusts from a slice of bread and gently push into a muffin tray and lightly bake to form a pastry shell.
Remove crusts and cut bread into 1.5 cm squares. Fry in a small amount of olive oil to make fresh croutons for soups. Alternatively, remove crusts and toast remaining bread until grill to make one large crouton.
Use in seasoned stuffing for a roast chicken.
Place in a freezer bag in the freezer. When fresh breadcrumbs are needed for a recipe, remove the desired amount and grate.
Stale bread doesn’t have to be thrown out or wasted. Many other leftovers, such as roast chicken or boiled rice can be used in a variety of savoury or sweet recipes.
The copyright of the article Leftover Bread Recipes in Recipes is owned by Susan Whelan. Permission to republish Leftover Bread Recipes in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
