A Second Life for Stale Bread – Bread-Saving Tips for Beginners and Advanced Cooks

Refreshing stale bread If you'd like to give your dried-out bread a second chance in the form of a new dish, it's worth trying the following…

2023-09-05 · Munch

Refreshing stale bread

If you'd like to give your dried-out bread a second chance in the form of a new dish, it's worth trying the following trick:

  1. Spray a small amount of water on the outside of the bread using a kitchen spray bottle. Make sure it doesn't become completely soaked – just dampen the surface!
  2. Wrap it in aluminum foil and place it in a cold oven.
  3. Turn the heat up to at least 200 degrees and let the bread warm up for 15 minutes.
  4. After a quarter hour, remove the bread from the oven, unwrap it and place it back on the oven rack for another 10 minutes.

Bringing stale bread and cheese from the back of the fridge back to life

If you'd like to make a savory treat from leftover bread, you might find one of our earlier Hatékonyha series episodes helpful, where we revived dried-out bread and leftover cheese pieces together with Amigos. The garlic and cheese bread cutlets featured in the video don't require any special ingredients or extensive culinary knowledge. And the results speak for themselves – honestly, we didn't think it would turn out this delicious. It's guaranteed to disappear completely.

Ingredients:

  • 150 g stale bread
  • 1 egg
  • 200 ml milk
  • 60 g grated cheese
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • vegetable seasoning to taste
  • 1 clove garlic
  • vegetable oil as needed
  • breadcrumbs as needed

Instructions:

  1. Cut the bread into small cubes and grate the cheese. Beat the egg and pour in the milk.
  2. Pour the milk and egg mixture over the bread. Season with salt, pepper, vegetable seasoning and crushed garlic, then knead together with your hands.
  3. Add the cheese as well. If the mixture is too thin, add a little breadcrumbs; if it's too thick, thin it out with a bit of milk.
  4. Form small balls, flatten them and fry them in plenty of hot oil until nicely golden brown.
Fancy some creative bread-saving? Check out the bakery munchos and grab a food-rescue package.

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Torrijas – Spanish sweet eggy bread

If you'd like to try a Mediterranean recipe made with ingredients easily available here at home, then torrijas is your dessert. This traditional Spanish Easter dessert can rescue not only stale bread but many other ingredients as well: it can be served with honey, red wine, chocolate, or orange juice.

Ingredients:

  • 10-12 smaller slices of bread, at least two days old
  • 1 liter milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 pinch ground cinnamon
  • 200 g sugar
  • 200 ml sunflower oil
  • lemon or orange zest to taste

Instructions:

  1. Start heating the milk slowly with the cinnamon stick, sugar and lemon zest. Stir constantly, and once the sugar has completely dissolved, remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
  2. Beat the eggs.
  3. Dip the bread slices first in the cooled milk, then in the eggs. Make sure the slices don't soak so long that they fall apart.
  4. Fry the bread slices in plenty of oil, and once cooked, blot off excess oil with paper towels.
  5. Serve the warm eggy bread sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Fruity bread pudding

This dessert is a true food-rescue dish: like our previous tip, this recipe can help save not just bread, but also fruit you might find in a SPAR muncho.

(Psst! If you're excited about shopping at Munch, use the KENYER10 coupon at checkout for a little extra discount!)

Ingredients:

  • 800 g white bread (without crust)
  • 5 eggs
  • 200 ml heavy cream
  • fruit to taste
  • 100 g butter
  • 150 g brown sugar
  • 500 ml milk
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • a few tablespoons of fruit jam

Instructions:

  1. Cut the bread into 2-3 cm cubes and bake in a preheated 180-degree oven for 10 minutes, then let cool.
  2. Cream the brown sugar with the eggs.
  3. Mix the milk and heavy cream with the vanilla pod seeds, then gradually add to the egg mixture.
  4. Place the bread in a baking dish, pour the egg milk mixture over it, then top with fruit pieces, small cubes of butter and jam.
  5. Bake in a preheated 180-degree oven for 30 minutes.

As with all food, it's important with bread to first and foremost prevent waste in the first place: try to figure out how much you consume and shop accordingly. However, if it does dry out, don't think of it as trash, but as a new opportunity – because with the recipes above, it can get a delicious second chance. If you're curious about similar food-rescue tips or sustainability-related topics, follow the Munch blog regularly, where we always try to share useful ideas and interesting topics with you.

The coupon found in the blog can be used on the Munch website or in the app for one order between 2023.09.08. and 2023.09.10.

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