Old Bread? 7 Tips For Using Leftover Bread Sensibly

Do you have leftover stale bread or rolls that are slowly getting hard? Dry bread is far too valuable to end up in the bin. Instead, we show 7 easy and tasty recycling ideas for stale bread.

No matter how hard you try, it happens again and again: bread and rolls get old and dry out. And then, more or less grudgingly, they have to be thrown away. Old, dry toast, wholemeal bread or rolls can easily be processed – not just into breadcrumbs (although that’s a good idea too).

This is how you can use leftover bread

Dry bread is known to be really tasty again if you sprinkle it with a little water, bake it in the toaster or oven and then spread it warm with butter or olive oil.

But if you don’t feel like it or it’s already too late to bake, just let the following ideas and recipes inspire you:

Stale bread croutons

Homemade croutons taste delicious in a salad or soup – and are very easy to make. Cut dry white bread or toast into cubes and toast them in a pan with butter or olive oil.

Toasted bread chips made from stale bread

For bread chips you need very thin slices of bread, which you then place next to each other on a baking tray (don’t forget the baking paper!), brush with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs. Garlic is also good on the bread chips. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for eight to ten minutes.

The bread chips, together with various dips, go perfectly with an aperitif.

Bread Salad (Panzanella)

No matter what type of bread – they all go well in the famous Italian bread salad, also known as panzanella. Cut the bread for the bread salad into cubes and roast them in the pan with garlic and olive oil. With tomatoes, onions, basil and a vinaigrette, it becomes a delicious summer dish.

Bread salad comes in many delicious varieties, for example:

Bread salad with tomatoes, spring onions and cheese
Greek bread salad with carrots, tomatoes, onions, capers, olives and feta cheese
Autumn bread salad with apples, nuts and radicchio salad
Mediterranean bread salad with rocket, tomatoes, pine nuts, onions, garlic, parmesan and basil
Oriental bread salad (fattouche) with flatbread, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, onions, parsley, mint and ras el hanout

Poor Knight (French Toast)

Formerly a poor man’s meal, today a delicious way of using up leftovers: poor knights.

Here’s how it works: For French toast, cut dry toast or white bread in half and soak in a mixture of 300 ml milk, two eggs, 40 grams of sugar and a packet of vanilla sugar. The mixture is enough for about six slices of bread. Then fry the bread in the pan and enjoy with sugar, cinnamon, ice cream or vanilla sauce.

Process stale bread into breadcrumbs (breadcrumbs).

Cut the dry bread into slices and let them dry naturally in the air or in the oven. Then put it in the blender or chop it with the immersion blender.

Breadcrumbs or breadcrumbs keep for a few weeks in an airtight container.

Toast stale bread in the pan

Stale bread can also be toasted in whole slices with a little olive oil. To do this, simply add it to the pan with a little olive oil. The crispy toasted bread is an excellent accompaniment to salads and soups or – with a spread or dip – as a snack between meals.

Use up old bread: Many more recipe ideas

• Bread Casserole (sweet or savory)
• bread pudding
• bread soup
• bread cake
• Bruschetta
• meatballs
• meatloaf
• cherry michel
• oven slip
• dumplings
• pyre

True gourmet dishes can also be conjured up from stale bread. Here you will find bread recipes for inspiration.

Stale bread for feeding animals

Farm animals are allowed to eat dry (!) bread. If you collect the bread in a paper bag, it doesn’t get moldy – and you can give it to the stables, chicken coop or farm next time.

What you should definitely not do: feed ducks or other birds with the bread. The bread swells, the animals can suffocate.

Be sure to dispose of moldy bread

Moldy bread belongs in the trash can, no ifs or buts. You should dispose of moldy bread completely and not just cut off the affected corners. Because: The mold spores could already have spread over the whole loaf.

Store bread properly

Don’t want to let the bread dry out and harden in the first place?

Of course, we also have tips for you on how to store your bread properly in order to keep it fresh for as long as possible. Enjoy your meal!