Hello! Well, the holidays have come and gone and I am finally getting back into the swing of things. I have a huge list of projects on the horizon; including making Kombucha tea for my family. Mother Kombucha is on her way now.. I'm sending her good energy to make it to me safe and sound! We will talk about Kombucha along with other live cultures later on, but today we will talk about the uses of leftover bread.
Today's post was inspired by my part-time job at Subway - which just so happens to be the best part-time job I could have asked for! As we all know, restaurants are good at throwing away food. I have worked at a number of restaurants and have seen more food thrown in the trash that you might could imagine. But, just last week I was able to take home all the loaves of bread from Subway that were destined for the trash. It was a mixture of white, wheat, and herbed bread.. most of which were stale. I used the fresh bread by splitting them open, adding butter and garlic and broiled them until golden brown, we ate those with dinner. But "what about the stale bread?" you ask.. well, my two favorite uses for stale bread are bread pudding and bread crumbs, and those are the two I am going to talk about today.
Bread pudding... MMMmmmm!!! Surprisingly, I ran into a number of people who didn't know what bread pudding was, so for those of you who don't know, it's stale bread that is softened by milk and flavored with sugar, cinnamon, and raisins; then baked in the oven until firm and golden brown. You can use any bread you want, but I do recommend only making it with white bread. The great thing is that you can save up leftover bread before it gets moldy and store it in the freezer until you have enough to make a batch of pudding. You can also check around at your local restaurants and see if they have any 'throw away' bread they would be willing to give you. I even make bread pudding when I find bread on sale, because the bread should be a little stale anyway, I don't mind if it's old bakery bread on sale for 50 cents a loaf! Some of you may already have a great bread pudding recipe, but here is mine for those who may want to use it;
1 (1 pound) loaf white bread, torn into small pieces
4 C. hot milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons margarine
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, pour hot milk over bread. Blend eggs, sugar, and vanilla. (make sure the bread mixture is not too hot because the eggs will scramble) Stir egg mixture into the bread mixture and blend well. Add raisins. Mix well.
Melt the margarine and pour into a 9x13-inch pan. Pour bread mixture over margarine. Bake for 40 minutes, or until firm and golden brown. Serve hot or cold.
Vanilla Sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
dash salt
In small saucepan combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in 1 cup boiling water. Simmer, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter, vanilla extract and salt; blend well. Serve hot over bread pudding.
Of course, you can search around on the net until you find a recipe you would rather use :)
Now, onto the topic of bread crumbs. If you have gone to the grocery store and spent $2 on a can of bread crumbs, you are cheating yourself!! As I have said many times before, making your own (anything) can yield healthier, cheaper and tastier results. Save those bread ends! I know most people get to the end of their bread loaf and throw away those heels, or maybe you have 2 buns leftover from hot dog night... I almost always have a few slices of bread left before they get to point of getting moldy. So before the little fungus spores make a happy home on your bread, put it in a freezer bag and store it in the freezer, save them up until you have time to make some breadcrumbs. Wheat bread makes good crumbs as well, and is much healthier for you. Also, don't be afraid to mix up different kinds of bread in the same container; you can use sourdough, rye, or anything else you have on hand.
First you need to preheat your oven to about 200 - 250 degrees. Not too hot or it will burn your bread. Spread your bread out on a baking sheet, and if you have thick pieces be sure and cut them down to about the thickness of a regular slice of bread. Put them in the oven, and check often. Only cook the bread until it is dry and crisp, and turn them over to dry the other side. Make sure it is thoroughly dried because any bread that is still moist will cause your yummy breadcrumbs to mold. When the bread is done, you can grind it up with a grinder, food processor, or by hand. You may also season the breadcrumbs with a mix of italian herbs if you like, or leave them plain. Store them in an airtight container, and preferably in the freezer. If the breadcrumbs are dried well, they can be stored in the cupboard for a couple of weeks or more, but just to be on the safe side, I stick mine in the freezer. And there you have it, delicious homemade breadcrumbs you can make from scraps. The herbed Subway bread was especially useful for this as it was pre-seasoned and already stale. You can use the breadcrumbs any way you like, toppings for casseroles, coating for meat (like Shake-N-Bake), in meatloaf or meatballs.. be creative!
That's it for today. Stay tuned for more tidbits of goodness from Eco-Mom!!
