A Second Life for Dead Bread- Bread Salad
In the world of food, it doesn’t get more basic or humble than bread. You want to go even a notch further on the humbler spectrum – stale bread. Besides making bread crumbs or feeding the birds, there’s not a lot of roles for stale bread, and given that its likely the least expensive food you’ve bought that week, there is usually little grieving when it’s tossed into the trash.
I have an extreme aversion, however, to throwing out food – even stale bread. I don’t know where it comes from – its not like I grew up during the Depression. I grew up in the age of Ziploc disposible baggies and single-use Tupperware containers, but I can’t throw food away. (I also wash and re-use the baggies but we can talk about that later….)
So when I was faced with a stale baguette the other day, I had to find a use for it and eating it in its stale form was not an option. What to do? Re-hydrate it. With vegetable juices and salad dressing. The end result was a fabulous bread salad with the bread inside rather than outside the bowl.
Here’s how you make it: Take stale bread and tear it up or chop it up (the less dense the bread, the better – think baguette over pita or bagel as light bread will soak up the liquid more easily), add diced tomato (the best you can find – heirlooms are all around this time of the year), diced cucumber, chunks of fresh mozzarella (the kind that swims in liquid, not the kind that’s been squeezed into a plastic package), diced avocado, finely chopped onion and a sprinkle of dill (fresh or dried is fine – you could also use fresh basil). Drizzle a homemade vinaigrette over the whole thing, add salt and pepper, wait about 5 minutes (til the bread does some soaking-up – the less stale, the less time required) and you’re ready to eat. It makes a really substantial meal and you’ll feel good knowing you’ve saved one more baguette from an early demise.
Any more tips for stale bread? Share ‘em!
Be well!
Michelle
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Sep 27, 2012 @ 06:33:00
This is similar to fattoush, the Middle Eastern bread salad. I love it and I’m going to try your version as well. Sounds yummy!
Sep 27, 2012 @ 06:36:00
Panzanella (bread salad) is the tastiest use for stale bread that I know. I make it every year when the heirlooms come in, mine with cukes, capers and always, always an anchovy dressing. In winter, stale bread goes into the food processor – bread crumbs. I wash out my ziploc bags too!
Sep 27, 2012 @ 06:36:00
stale bread=naturally created croutons, love it!
oh, and, I wash my baggies too…why is that so weird for some…?
Sep 27, 2012 @ 07:01:00
My family in Spain has always collected bits of stale bread in a fabric drawstring bag kept in the breadbox. Because I live in humid Maryland, I keep my bread bag in the fridge (a drier environment that keeps it from molding.) When enough stale bread is collected, it gets ground up into breadcrumbs which are great for battering fish, thickening gazpacho or adding to quinoa cakes.
I know what you mean about not wanting to waste food. We are so privileged to live with so much abundance. I wash my plastic baggies too!
Sep 27, 2012 @ 07:07:00
French doughnut toast… Nowhere near as healthy as this!
Let the slices of stale bread soak up 1med egg mixed with a splash of milk & vanilla essence. Then fry & when cooked each side plate up & sprinkle with golden caster sugar & cinnamon.
Sep 28, 2012 @ 07:07:00
Oh! My favorite stale bread recipe~ chunk up stale bread cube zuchini or other summer squash cube up fresh heirloom tomatoes julienne some fresh basil finely dice some fresh garlic cube up some fresh mozzarella (yesterday I didn’t have this so I topped it with parmesan and added some goat cheese when it was done, REALLY delish!) toss it all together in a baking dish and bake till the juices release and the top bread gets a little toasty. This is even good for breakfast! Mmmmmmm! Big baggy washer here! I use them till they disintigrate! I am the baggy cop, I take other peoples baggies rather than allow them to toss them! It might be a disease!
Sep 28, 2012 @ 08:43:00
What a delicious idea! I have the same aversion to throwing anything away. I usually grind the bread into bread crumbs and put it in baggies in the freezer to use in recipes at a later date.
Oct 26, 2012 @ 10:44:00
What a fabulous idea! I use stale bread for making Thanksgiving stuffing and for sprinkling on baked pasta dishes before putting in the oven.