Of all the foodstuffs that we throw away, I think that bread is the one most sinned against. I understand that you might not like the crusts, or that perhaps the bread is looking a bit dried out or past its sell-by, but that is not necessarily a reason for throwing it out. I suspect part of the problem is how we also define what is "stale". Because "stale" bread does not necessarily taste "stale" - these are two entirely separate conditions.
I confess that I make my own sourdough bread (cue readers' eye-rolling and thoughts of "of course you are, you're a Guardian reader. I bet you knit your own lentils too ...") Once I started baking, I began to better understand bread and its wonderful qualities. Yes, my home baked bread becomes stale through loss of moisture relatively quickly as opposed to the type of squishy factory-made bread that rarely hardens but will inevitably become blue with mould. But assuming that a loaf lasts long enough in my household to harden, then it is definitely earmarked for good things. Stale bread and breadcrumbs have become a key building-block in my cooking, one that previously I had regarded as a disposable, uninteresting and trifling ingredient. I feel as if I have learned the magic of a particular alchemy that stale bread and breadcrumbs demonstrate; how they transmute even the plainest of dishes to something rather special; I hope it has made me a better cook.
I think that I am lucky that I've always got a loaf "on the go". As Emma Marsh suggested, I don't keep my bread in the fridge (its enemy) but in a bread bin. I wrap mine in a clean, cotton-tea towel (one that isn't too fragrant with soap powder or fabric softener!). Loaves last very well this way.
Even when some of my loaves don't turn out so well, they can be sacrificed to the altar of thrift. When life gives you a bread disaster, you make breadcrumbs, one of my favourite kitchen staples. Stale bread and breadcrumbs serve several purposes in the kitchen. They are used as a binding agent (in meatballs and sausages). They act as a delicious protective coating to seal in both flavour and juices in dishes such as the retro classic chicken kiev or in schnitzels. I use breadcrumbs in a corrective way too, to thicken sauces and stews as well as to absorb excess moisture when I am making things such as courgette fritters. They are an excellent filling for various vegetables from mushrooms to tomatoes and courgettes and they are an excellent topping for any baked dish such as macaroni cheese.
Stale bread's properties can be celebrated as a virtue in the way that it absorbs moisture and flavours in a simple panzanella or fattoush salad or as a brilliant savoury bread pudding to accompany a Sunday roast or a sweet bread and butter pudding for 'afters' - happily crossing flavour boundaries, from sweet to savoury.
1. Boum-boum Sausages
I wanted to give you a couple of recipes where breadcrumbs have something of a starring role, such as my adaptation of Jane Grigson's classic Glamorgan Sausages - meatless sausages of breadcrumbs, cheese and leeks. I also add leftover pasta sauces to the mix of dried breadcrumbs, such as a spag bol ragu (although any sauce will work), for what I now call Boum-boum sausages, (named for the twist on the French croque monsieur with bolognese sauce).
Serves 4
Ingredients:
vegetable oil or butter (or a mixture of the two)
200g dried breadcrumbs, 50g of which are for coating the sausages
3-4 tbsp leftover pasta sauce (such as bolognese)
1 English onion, finely chopped
2 rashers of smoked bacon
100g emmental or gruyere cheese, cubed
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 large eggs (or 3 medium), whisked (set aside about 2 tbsp of whisked egg to use for coating the sausages)
Mix together 150g of the breadcrumbs (save 50g or so in order to coat the sausages) in a bowl with the leftover pasta sauce. Add enough to moisten and set aside for 5 minutes. You may need to add more pasta sauce or a tablespoon of milk. The mixture needs to be moist but not wet.
Fry the onion gently in little olive oil until a golden brown colour. Stir occasionally. This can take anything from 10 to 15 minutes. Don't let them burn!
Grill or fry the bacon (which usually takes 3 to 4 minutes each side, then chop roughly and add to the breadcrumb mixture.
Add the cooked onion, cheese and chopped parsley to the breadcrumb mixture and combine well. Set aside for 10 minutes or so to ensure that the mixture is cool, before adding the whisked egg. (You don't want the mixture to cook the egg at this stage).
Before adding the egg, stir in the mustard and season to taste. Set aside about 2 tablespoons of the egg mixture in order to coat the sausages later. Stir the rest of the egg mixture and make sure that it is mixed well.
If the mixture is too dry add a little milk, but don't let the mixture become too runny. If it is too runny then add more breadcrumbs!
Divide the mixture into about eight balls (although you may get more) and then shape each into a long sausage shape (about 8cm long and 2½cm wide). You will probably need to do this by partially rolling the mixture on a hard clean surface (I use a breadboard) and shaping them to keep them together as they will be a bit fragile and prone to falling apart.
Put the egg mixture in a shallow bowl; put the leftover breadcrumbs on a plate.
Take each sausage and dip it in the egg mixture and then roll in the crumbs.
Chill the sausages in the fridge for about 30 minutes, to firm them up before cooking.
Fry the sausages in the oil or butter. To fry the sausage, heat the butter or oil in the frying pan for 5 minutes, Turn half way through. Turn the heat down and continue to fry for another 3 minutes.
These sausages can be grilled. Drizzle with a little melted butter and grill under a preheated grill until brown on all sides. Be careful when turning them.
Tip: Bind with egg as above, but use it all. Use a beaten egg white to roll the sausages in before coating with breadcrumbs. It helps the breadcrumbs stick effectively and gives a nice crunchy texture.
2. Classic British bread pudding
This classic pudding seems to have rather fallen out of fashion in recent years. It can be eaten cold as a rather dense, but moist fruit cake. It is absolutely delicious served warm as a pudding with loads of cream or custard. In fact, it actually tastes a bit like Christmas pudding, although to my mind, much nicer. The ingredients are more or less the same, it is just the application of them that makes it different. If you served it with a brandy cream or butter, I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.
I have adapted this from English Puddings: Sweet and Savoury by Mary Norwak. If you are interested in old recipes, traditional British cooking and lost knowledge, this is the book for you.
Ingredients:
1 loaf of stale bread
300ml milk
300g dried mixed fruit (I used a mixture of currants, raisins, sour cherries and sultanas)
50g mixed peel
1 quince or eating apple, grated (include the skin but not the core or pips)
3 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
2 tbsp plum jam
40g self-raising flour
2 eggs
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
100g butter, melted
demerera sugar, to sprinkle over
double cream, ice-cream or custard (for serving)
Pre-heat the oven to 170C / gas mark 3.
Grease and line a square cake or roasting (28 x 20 cm) tin.
Firstly, you need to slice up the bread, including the crusts. Break up the bread into small pieces and soak in the milk until softened.
Once the milk has been absorbed (which will take about 10 minutes), beat well with a fork. The bread and crusts will break down and combine with the milk, forming a creamy mush.
Stir in the grated quince, then the rest of the ingredients and only half of the melted butter. Beat well together until combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
Pour the rest of the melted butter evenly over the surface. (Use a pastry brush to ensure that it is all coated.)
Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 1¼ to 1½ hours.
When baked, sprinkle over a little demerera sugar and serve warm with double cream or custard.
Alternatively allow to cool, and eat as cake.
More bread and breadcrumb ideas
3. Make your own dried breadcrumbs by drying the bread out in a very low oven (about an hour at 150C / gas mark 2. Turn slices so both sides dry evenly. Then I blitz these chunks in a food processor. The dried breadcrumbs are then stored in an airtight container and could, if given the chance, last about three months. They store well in the freezer too. Where recipes call for fresh breadcrumbs rather than dried ones, then I soak my dried crumbs in a little milk or water, or use their dryness to soak up any liquid in things that I am making that are too damp.
4. Savoury breadcrumbs can be made by combining a mixture of dried crumbs with herbs, spices and grated hard cheese such as parmesan or pecorino. The crumbs can then be used to coat chicken or to sprinkle over gratins.
Breadcrumbs appeal to my thrifty heart in one of my favourite frugal but tasty meals of pasta with olive oil and garlic - the perfect case of 'less is more'.
5. How about the Spanish panada - a savoury bread pudding with caramelised onions and cheese. Or Migas - another Spanish dish of stale bread and chorizo.
6. There are tens (possibly hundreds) of traditional British pies and puddings, both sweet and savoury, that use bread as a key ingredient. If you want to read more, then I really can't recommend English Puddings: Sweet and Savoury by Mary Norwak highly enough. One of my favourites is the traditional Manchester tart.
7. Try Exeter pudding - a sort of baked trifle!
8. A sweet topping of sugar and spice (cinnamon or mixed) and breadcrumbs is perfect on puddings or ice cream sundaes. I can also thoroughly recommend Nigel Slater's golden bread and hazelnut ice cream.
9. Summer may be months away, but salads are always welcome, particularly Felicity Cloake's perfect panzanella.
10. How about using breadcrumbs in meatballs, bean burgers or a meatloaf?
11. Romesco, a Spanish red pepper sauce made with breadcrumbs and smoked paprika, should be on everyone's must-try recipe list.
12. I came across a recipe for something called Strata, which I was completely unfamiliar with. It is a popular American dish made with layers of bread, egg and cheese - a sort of bread frittata and perfect for breakfast or lunch.
13. Moving to French cuisine, one of my favourite ways of using up stale bread is in a simple Gascon soup, Garbure, made with layers of bread and cabbage, flavoured with ham, beans and vegetables. Cookery writer Kate Hill's recipe is gorgeous.
14. Ivan Day's medieval gyngerbrede recipe made with real bread - this is less like a cake and more like a thick paste, which can be moulded into sweets.
15. Spanish breadcrumb fritters in honey sauce traditionally served at Easter, which dates back to medieval times - they are very like doughnuts!
16. A classic Apple Charlotte from James Martin.
17. A bit early in the season to be thinking of summer pudding, but it is always better to be hopeful! (I have made this successfully with a bag of frozen fruits.)
18. Felicity Cloake's perfect sweet and sticky treacle tart.
19. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's breadcrumb pesto with hemp oil and parsley.
20. Another soup recipe is Nigel Slater's take on the classic Tuscan Ribollita - the perfect marriage of bread and beans.
Have we missed anything? Share your favourite tips for using leftover bread and crusts below.
Rachel Kelly is the Guardian home cook of the year 2013. Read more on her website or follow her on Twitter @MarmadukeS.
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