The best of leftover bread: 11 reasons why you shouldn’t throw away old bread

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In Switzerland, an incredible 42 kilos of bread and bakery products are lost per person per year along the entire value chain and due to consumption. Largest portion: About 22 kilos in processing. However, even in households, there is a loss of 14 kilos per person. This was demonstrated last year by ETH Zurich’s study “Food losses in Switzerland: environmental impact and prevention potential”.

Below you will find eleven good ideas on how to enjoy stale bread.

1. Refresh dry bread

Stale bread is still a valuable food; He just lost his water! If the bread is not already rock hard, you can add some water by wrapping the bread in a damp towel for a while and then baking it for 10 to 15 minutes. Or cook in a steamer.

2. Grind into breadcrumbs

Store small, chopped stale bread in a cloth bag and let it dry. Cooling is faster in the oven. Then grind it into breadcrumbs using a food processor or place it in a plastic bag and crush it with a rolling pin. Dry bread crumbs have a very long shelf life, provided that there are no oil seeds in the bread.

3. Make croutons

Cut old light bread into cubes and fry in a pan with a little butter or oil until crispy. Garlic or herbs add a special touch to croutons.

4. Bread salad in summer

In Italy, “Panzanella” is a classic! In the past, stale bread was reused by soaking it in water and wine vinegar the day before. There are also varieties of vegetables. Today, bread salad is usually made with toasted bread, as well as tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. How does it work? Place the old bread on a tray and bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for ten minutes until it becomes crispy.

5. Toast chips

Cut old bread (preferably white or mixed bread) into slices as thin as possible, put them on a baking tray and brush with olive oil or other aromatic oil. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees upper and lower temperature and roast in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

6. Make savory bread casserole

Grease the baking tray and fill it with diced stale bread, bacon and cheese. Add tomato slices and béchamel sauce on top, as well as grated parmesan or mozzarella cheese.

You can find the gnocchi recipe made from stale bread here.

7. Fry the Fotzelschnitte

It is said that the Romans already knew how to use leftover bread in this way. And everywhere this specialty has a slightly different name: French Toast, Poor Knight, Pain perdu or Fotzelschnitte.

Soak white bread slices in a mixture of milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla and then fry in a pan. Fotzelschnitten tastes great, hot and with cinnamon sugar, maple syrup or vanilla sauce.

8. Feed the animals

Dry the bread thoroughly in a cloth bag. Make sure it’s not moldy. Then ask friends and acquaintances who keep farm animals such as horses, pigs or chickens. Never feed animals directly, always ask the owners first.

9. Don’t buy baked goods

Although there is an enticing smell of fresh bread in the shop, these breads are not actually freshly baked. Rather, they were produced at some point and place, cooked, packaged, frozen, stored, transported, stored again, then unpackaged and briefly cooked. Therefore, this bread dries out quicker than truly freshly baked bread that is slightly more expensive.

10. Store bread properly

Not in a plastic bag, in the refrigerator, or in a plastic container. It is best to store bread in an unglazed ceramic or clay container. This means it stays fresher longer and doesn’t get mouldy. The longer it tastes fresh, the less bread will remain.

11. Freeze the portion fresh

If you always like fresh bread, you can cut your bread into slices, put them in a storage bag and freeze them. When freezing, do not stack individual packages on top of each other, spread them in the freezer until they are completely frozen.

Source : Blick