5 ways to rescue your leftover bread
Dough-not waste your leftover bread! Since baked breads have a relatively short shelf-life, we are excited to share with you that there are many ways to save and repurpose them. Letting your breads go stale are going to be the yeast of your problems after discovering these delicious, “second-life” bread recipes 🥖🥐🍞.
Here are 5 recipes to try out to rescue your leftover bread:
Salad croutons
Homemade salad croutons are SO easy to make, plus they are so versatile. You can flavour them however you wish to, and you can taste your labour of love whilst enjoying your salads.
Ingredients:
15 slices stale bread
¼ cup of butter, melted or olive oil
2 teaspoons of garlic salt
Feel free to add any herbs according to your flavour preference
Method:
Preheat the oven at 175ºC / 350 ºF
Brush each sides with butter/oil then cut your stale bread into smaller cubes.
Season the bread cubes with garlic salt, and other seasonings you wish.
Place the cubes on a baking sheet and bake until browned, around 15 minutes.
Banana bread pudding
If you are looking for a dessert recipe that utilises your stale bread and is just absolutely mouth watering, then this one is for you. Killing two birds with one stone, you are rescuing bread from going to waste AND satisfying your sweet tooth.
Ingredients:
Cooking spray
2 cups of milk
4 large eggs
1 cup of white sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
4 cups of cubed stale bread
2 bananas, sliced
1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips
Method:
Preheat the oven at 175ºC / 350 ºF and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, mix the milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Add in the bread cubes, bananas and chocolate chips.
Allow the mixture to rest for about 5 minutes to let the bread soak up the liquid, before pouring the mixture into the loaf pan.
In order to bake the bread pudding, we will need to incorporate moisture into the oven. To do so, place the loaf pan inside a roasting pan, and place it on the oven rack. Then carefully fill the roasting pan with water (up to halfway of the sides of the loaf pan).
Bake for around 1 hour. You can check if it's ready by inserting a knife into the centre and if it comes out clean, then you are ready to enjoy!
Baked French toast
Ingredients:
1 leftover loaf of bread, sliced into 1 inch slices
8 large eggs
2 cups of milk
1 ½ cups of half-and-half cream
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
¾ cup of butter
1 ⅓ cups of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of light corn syrup
Method:
Grease your baking dish using butter then arrange the slices of bread on the bottom.
In a large bowl, beat eggs, milk, cream, vanilla, and cinnamon together. Pour mixture over bread slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight. This will allow the bread to soak up the liquid.
In the following day, preheat the oven to 175ºC / 350 ºF .
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup together. Heat the content until bubbling and well combined.
Pour the content over the bread mixture in the baking dish.
Bake for 40 minutes (uncovered).
Serve with any accompanying fruits and sauces you desire!
Breadcrumb topping
Ingredients:
2 to 3 cups of stale sourdough bread, torn into small pieces
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon of sea salt
¼ cup of grated pecorino cheese
½ teaspoon of lemon zest
½ teaspoon of garlic powder
Method:
Preheat the oven to 175ºC / 350 ºF.
In a food processor, pulse the bread pieces into desired size of breadcrumbs (pulse longer for finer breadcrumbs and less for coarser size).
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper then spread the crumbs over. Drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle with salt over the breadcrumbs.
Bake for around 10 to 18 minutes and tossing halfway, until golden brown.
Once toasted, transfer the breadcrumbs into a large bowl and combine the lemon zest and cheese. Feel free to also add any other seasonings you wish!
French Onion Strata (Savoury Bread Pudding)
Ingredients:
For the Caramelised Onions:
3 tablespoons or 45g of unsalted butter
3 large white onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
3 medium cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
¼ cup of dry sherry
½ cup of dry white wine
For the Strata:
1 large stale bread loaf, cut into 1-inch cubes
6 large eggs
3 ½ cups of whole milk
1 ½ tablespoons of smooth Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ cups of grated Gruyère cheese
Method:
For the Caramelised Onions:
Over a medium heat in a large skillet, melt the butter. Stir in the onions, sugar, and salt.
Cover the skillet whilst letting the onions cook until softened (around 10 minutes), stirring every few minutes. Once softened, remove the lid and keep cooking until the onions have reached a deep golden brown colour (around 20 minutes). If the onions are burning, add in 1 to 2 tablespoon of water as needed. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a minute longer.
Add the sherry and wine, and cook for around 3 minutes or until the liquid has almost completely evaporated.
Remove from heat and set aside.
For the Strata:
Preheat the oven to 175ºC / 350 ºF.
On a baking sheet, spread the bread cubes in a single layer and bake until the bread has dried out (around 8 minutes).
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Soak in the bread and allow it to absorb the mixture for around 20 minutes.
Grease a baking dish or cast iron skillet (depending on what you are using) and add half of the bread mixture. Spread over half of the caramelised onions and cheese. Then layer the remaining of the bread mixture before scattering the other half of the onions and cheese.
Bake for around 35 minutes, until the pudding is crispy at the top and the custard has set.
Enjoy this dish hot!
