An incredible 42 kilograms of bread and bakery products are lost each year and per capita in Switzerland along the entire value chain and in consumption. Most: about 22 kilos during processing. However, even in households, the loss per person is still 14 kilos. This was demonstrated last year by ETH Zurich’s study “Food losses in Switzerland: environmental pollution and avoidance 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 – it’s just a waste of water! If the bread isn’t rock hard already, 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
Put the stale bread that you cut into small pieces in a cloth bag and let it dry like this. It is faster in the cooling furnace. Then make breadcrumbs using a food processor or put them in a plastic bag and mash with a rolling pin. Dry breadcrumbs can be stored for a very long time if the bread does not contain oil seeds.
3. Make croutons
Cut stale white bread into cubes, fry in a pan with a little butter or oil until crispy. The croutons get a special touch with garlic or herbs.
4. Summer Bread Salad
Panzanella in Italy is a classic! It was used to recycle stale bread by dipping it in water and wine vinegar the day before. There is also a variety of vegetables. Today, bread salad is usually made with toast, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. How does it work? Put the stale breads on a baking tray and bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for ten minutes until crispy.
5. Toast Bread Chips
Stale bread – preferably white or mixed bread – cut into thin slices, place on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil or another aromatic oil. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees lower and upper heat and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
6. Make a savory bread casserole
Grease a casserole dish and fill it with chopped stale bread, bacon and cheese cubes. Top with tomato slices and béchamel sauce and grated parmesan or mozzarella for a crust.
You can find the gnocchi recipe from stale bread here.
7. Fry the pussy slices
It is said that the Romans now already knew this way of using bread. And this specialty has a slightly different name everywhere: French toast, poor knight, pain perdu, and even Fotzelschnitte.
Dip slices of white bread in a mixture of milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla and fry in a pan. Fotzelschnitten tastes delicious, warm and delicious 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 bakery products
While there is a tempting smell of fresh bread in the shop, these loaves are not actually freshly baked. Instead, they were produced at one point and another, cooked, packaged, frozen, stored, transported, stored again, then unpacked and briefly baked. So this bread dries faster than a truly freshly baked and slightly more expensive bread.
10. Store bread properly
Not in a plastic bag, not in the fridge, not in a plastic box. Bread is best stored in an unglazed ceramic or clay pot. It stays fresh longer and does not get moldy. And the longer it stays fresh, the less leftovers.
11. Portion fresh and freeze
If you always like fresh bread, you can slice it and freeze it in a stretch bag. When freezing, do not stack individual packages, just spread them in the freezer until frozen.