Three Ways to Turn Stale Bread Into Something Delicious
It’s sad when a good loaf of good bread is stale, but it’s not entirely tragic. There are several ways to turn stale bread into something so delicious that you can just start staling good bread on purpose.
Put it in the pudding
Slightly dry and too viscous bread is ideal for recipes with a lot of moisture, making it such a good candidate for custard pudding. On the sweet side , I love Mark Bittman’s simple recipe that simply uses two cups of milk, two eggs, two tablespoons of butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and a little vanilla. It’s good as it is, but it can be almost endlessly customizable by adding fruits, spices, or, as Bittman suggests, chocolate chips. If you’re not feeling sweet, you can always make a strata (that’s just a fancy word for savory bread pudding). This one from the New York Times is especially filling and tasty, and you can substitute mushrooms and cabbage with vegetables that are kept in the refrigerator.
Salad is
Yes, you can make croutons by spreading a little butter on stale bread cubes and browning them in the oven, but I prefer to make bread a salad star by whipping up panzanella. The harsh nature of the stale bread means it won’t go soggy when seasoned, and the resulting salad is one of my favorite summer foods. To make panzanella, simply dice the bread, dice a few juicy tomatoes, chop the onion, and stir everything together in a large bowl. (Feel free to add more vegetables if you want, of course.) Whisk in a small beautiful vinaigrette , pour over it, and stir again. Then – and this is the hardest part – leave it alone for at least half an hour so the bread soaks up the dressing and the flavors merge.
Be crumby
If your bread has gone too far for the above, you shouldn’t throw it anyway, because there are bread crumbs. Just rip or cut it into small pieces, toss it into a food processor and beat until you get crumbs. If you want them to look real, you can fry them with oil and herbs, or grate lemon zest in there .