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03.14.2005

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save it for later things to do with stale bread 
by Yee-Fan Sun |
1 2
continued from page 1

Stale bread also provides the perfect opportunity to make up a big batch of breadcrumbs. Just toss a few slices of old bread into a food processor and grind it up as coarse or as fine as you like. You can now freeze the breadcrumbs or use them straight away in any recipes calling for unseasoned fresh breadcrumbs. To make dried breadcrumbs rather than fresh (different recipes will call for a different incarnation), just fry your breadcrumbs in a skillet with a little olive oil or butter. You can also add some flavorings to jazz things up; keep it simple and season with just salt and pepper, or add herbs, lemon zest, garlic or onion powder, grated parmesan, whatever. Homemade crumbs are handy for a wide range of recipes -- use them to bread chicken cutlets, make meatballs, top homemade mac-n-cheese, and more.

Hankering for something sweet rather than savory? Old bread makes a great base for some classic sweet goodies. Soaked in a bit of egg and milk, then cooked up, that dry hard bread gets transformed into something airy and spongy and light. Use up your stale bread by treating yourself to a big breakfast of cinnamon-y pan-fried French toast or baked French toast. Or satisfy your sweet tooth by whipping up a batch of bread pudding for dessert.

Of course, even stale bread has an inevitable expiration date; wait too long to put your not-so-fresh bread to use, and mold and other tiny nasties will stake their claim, leaving you with no choice but to chuck the bread in the trash. This is where the freezer comes in mighty handy. If you find yourself with a chunk of stale bread and no immediate use for it, just freeze it for later. Those butt ends of sandwich-style loaves, the ones that have a tendency to get pushed around and ignored until there's not another slice of bread left in the house? Those get added to the frozen stash as well. Just make sure to slice up any bread before you freeze it, as it's a lot easier to do so when the bread's at room temperature than when it's a big frozen block. Keep a big ziplock bag in the freezer, freezing extra bread as you accumulate it, and you'll find you never have to waste a slice of bread again.

get the recipes for panzanella & bread pudding!

o

check out these related articles: 
the lost art of baking bread  | irish soda bread

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