It sometimes happens that we buy too much bread and throw it in the trash the following day, convinced that having become too dry or chewy it is no longer good to eat.
This widespread habit, in addition to being a very serious food waste , is also a mistake from a culinary point of view, given that there are different ways to recycle bread and use it even once it has become old, as the basis of delicious recipes both for those who eat them and for the planet.
So here are the best ways to recycle leftover bread and avoid hastily throwing it away.
Make croutons
Croutons are delicious and appreciated by everyone and if homemade instead of purchased their flavor is certainly more authentic.
Ideal to enrich salads or to be eaten in soups , they represent a winning recycling idea also because they are very easy to prepare.
In fact, to make them, just cut the leftover dry bread into cubes and then toast it and toast it in a pan , after pouring a little butter or a drizzle of olive oil on the bottom .
Make toasted bread chips
Bread chips are nothing more than fake chips , perfect to be eaten as a snack or served as an aperitif accompanied by sauces. Although they are not real chips, they can be really tasty.
To make them you need to have bread available that can be cut into very thin slices .
Once this operation is completed, arrange them side by side on a baking tray previously lined with baking paper, brush them with olive oil and flavor them with aromatic herbs to your liking. At this point, just cook them in the oven at 180 degrees for about eight or ten minutes.
Prepare a panzanella
This recipe, also known by the name of bread salad, is typical of the Tuscany region but precisely because it is delicious and excellent for recycling leftover bread in a sublime way, it is now famous in every part of Italy.
To make it, it doesn’t matter if you have a specific type of bread , since they all lend themselves to being the basis of this dish, for which it is sufficient to cut the one you have into cubes and soak them in water . Once the bread has absorbed all the liquid, it must be squeezed gently and seasoned with vegetables , oil, vinegar and salt .
This is the basic version but the panzanella can actually be enriched as desired and also include the addition of cheese, capers , olives , apples , walnuts , pine nuts , mint and much more.
Once the bread and selected ingredients have been mixed together, it is advisable to let the panzanella rest for about an hour before tasting it.
Have a breakfast of French toast
What is now considered one of the most sought-after gourmet breakfasts was originally known for being the meal of the poor, so much so that it was also called Poor Knights.
To make a perfect French Toast , cut the leftover bread into slices and soak it in 300 ml of milk , two eggs , 40 grams of sugar and a sachet of vanilla sugar . After having soaked the slices, fry them in a pan and once they are ready, enjoy them covered in sugar, cinnamon , blueberry syrup , jam , ice cream , chocolate or vanilla cream .
Turn it into breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are a very useful ingredient in the kitchen, so when you have extra bread available that you don’t know how to use, a good idea could be to turn it into breadcrumbs, to be stored away for future use . In fact, if kept hermetically, this preparation can last even several weeks.
To do this, just break the dry bread so that it can enter a blender , then chop it finely by starting the appliance.
Consume it toasted or as bruschetta
Stale bread can also simply be eaten toasted . Just toast it lightly in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil , to make it crunchy and appetizing and ideal to be eaten with cheeses or delicious sauces.
Furthermore, once toasted, stale bread can become an excellent base for bruschetta to garnish as desired.
Prepare the bread balls
Bread balls are an excellent dish , originally from the Salento culinary culture and born precisely from the need not to waste leftover bread but to give this food a second life.
Bread balls can be cooked in the oven or fried and to make them, just put the stale bread in a bowl full of water so that it softens and absorbs the liquid. Once squeezed, crumble it and put it in a large container, add the egg and the cheese and mix everything.
At this point, form medium-sized meatballs with the dough and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle them with a drizzle of oil. Bake in a hot oven at 220° for about thirty-five minutes. When cooked , wait a few minutes before serving.
Here’s how to eat less bread during meals.
