Use Old Bread: 3 Ideas for Processing

There is often a leftover piece of bread that ends up in the garbage at some point. But that doesn’t have to be the case. We will show you three alternatives to how you can still use old bread wonderfully.

Use old bread: make dry bread “fresh” again

The bread is dry or chewy, but too good to throw away? Why don’t you simply recycle your bread? Exception: moldy bread must be disposed of immediately because the mold spores can harm your health.

• There is a simple trick you can use to make dry bread – especially wheat or white bread – “fresh” again.
• Take the leftover bread that is a few days old and wet it with water. The bread is then wrapped in aluminum foil.
• Now the whole thing goes into the oven at 150 degrees circulating air or 180 degrees top and bottom heat.
• After three to five minutes, take the bread out again.
• Let the bread cool down a bit and unwrap it in aluminum foil.
• The bread is now fresher and juicier again. The reason: the water evaporates in the oven and penetrates the bread. This makes the dough softer again and the crust crispier at the same time.
• Tip: If the bread is very dry, you can place the loaf in a saucepan on a small plate. Pour an inch of water into the pot. Be careful not to get the bread wet.
• Heat the pot on the stove and expose the bread to the steam for about a quarter of an hour. This will make the dough juicier and fluffy again.

Bread becomes breadcrumbs

You can easily process very dry and old bread into breadcrumbs.

• Important: In order to be able to process old bread into breadcrumbs, the bread must be completely dry.
• If you are not sure whether the bread has reached the right “degree of drying”, simply leave the leftover bread on the heater or in the sun for a day.
• Cut the dried bread into slices or cubes. In the next step, mix the bread in a mixer until it is broken into even crumbs.
• By the way: You can not only bake bread in the Thermomix, you can also use it to make fine breadcrumbs.
• You should store the breadcrumbs in an airtight container.

Spice up salads with croutons

Are cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, and co. too boring for you in a salad? Then simply spice it up with your own croutons.

• Cut the leftover bread into small cubes. White or mixed bread is best for croutons.
• Put the bread cubes in a buttered pan and fry them until they are crispy enough for you.
• If you like, you can season the croutons with herbs, salt, or pepper.
• Place the finished croutons on a kitchen towel to drain.
• Tip: The croutons can also be used to refine soups.