These days, few of us can afford—nor is it ecologically sound—to throw away food that is perfectly good, albeit a little old. Leftover bread is easy to transform.
Save the crusts of bread that no one wants for a sandwich. Snatch up the end of a baguette that didn't get entirely eaten with your cheese tray. If you have pita bread or dinner rolls that didn't get eaten up the first or second time they were served, save them, too. There are ways to figure out what to do with leftover bread.
Preparing Leftover Bread
Start by slicing or cubing the leftover bread and putting it in tightly sealed freezer bags. Place the bags in the freezer where they will be handy to grab when you need to put them to use. Remove bread from the freezer 30 minutes before you plan to use it. You can use your store of leftover bread in these ideas below.
Homemade Croutons
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter in a shallow pan over low heat. Add garlic and desired seasonings to taste. Stir the defrosted bread cubes into the melted butter and stir until they are coated well with the seasoned butter. Pour the coated cubes onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the croutons for 30 minutes, shaking the pan from time to time to turn the cubes.
Store the croutons in a tightly sealed container.
Sprinkle into soup or over a salad, such as an Easy Caesar Salad.
Toast Rounds
Slice French bread into rounds before freezing. When you need an easy appetizer, pull out the number of rounds you need.
Butter both sides of the rounds and place them on a shallow pan, under the broiler, for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the broiler and turn the rounds to toast the other side for half that time. Watch the toast carefully to prevent burning.
When the rounds are toasted, spread them with olive tapenade or fig jam with goat cheese sprinkled on top. You can also prepare tomatoes for a traditional Italian bruschetta, or you can cover them with grated cheese to add to onion soup.
Bread Crumbs
Lots of recipes call for bread crumbs, but you don't have to buy them from the supermarket when you have your leftover bread in the freezer.
Allow the bread from the freezer to defrost for 6 to 8 hours, or use old bread that hasn't been frozen.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Tear the bread into pieces and process the pieces in the bowl of a blender or food processor. Spread the crumbs onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring the crumbs after 10 minutes.
Remove the crumbs from the oven and return them to the blender or food processor. Add seasonings, such as onion, garlic salt or herbes de Provence. Process the crumbs again to mix in the seasonings.
Spread the seasoned crumbs back on the parchment paper for several hours to dry completely before sealing in an airtight container.
Final Resort
As a final resort for that leftover bread, or when your freezer gets too full, take the bread to a nearby park and feed the birds. Or crumble it and spread it in your backyard for the birds to enjoy on a snowy afternoon.
There's no need to waste bread you have baked or purchased. Use it up!
Laura Marie Moore - Laura Moore lives on an island in Puget Sound, in the state of Washington. She has a BA in anthropology from the University of Washington ...
Join the Conversation