Still Looking at Leftovers: Bread, Part 2

We were talking about leftovers – and then specifically about leftover bread.

Needless to say that one of the best ways to use up leftover bread is – as I said at the time – French toast.

So let’s talk about French toast. Or eggy bread, if you prefer that name.

Not only is it a great way to use bread that has started to go stale or which would otherwise be thrown away, certain breads and bready things we have on hand at holiday time make an extra special treat out of a an already treat-like dish. More on this later.

First a basic French toast. This is a stripped down, very basic recipe. You can scale up or down, raise the sweet or savoury aspects at will. It’s utterly and completely up to you, your tastes and what you have on hand.

These amounts will serve 4 people with 2 slices each.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 teaspoons of butter
• 8 slices bread – could be french bread, could be challah, could even be sliced white – though I tend to believe you need a more robust bread for French toast to be at its best.
• You can also add nutmeg, a pinch of salt, a bit of caster sugar to the soaking mixture … it’s completely up to you. You could switch the taste profile completely and make a savoury seasoned version, if you want. It’s bread. It will take on whatever you add to it.

Directions

• Beat egg, vanilla and cinnamon (and whatever else you’ve decided to add, if anything) in shallow dish. Stir in milk.
• Dip bread in egg mixture, turning to coat both sides evenly. If it’s chunky, crusty stale bread, really let it get fully saturated. If it’s just slightly stale sliced white, a quick dip on each side will do. Soak/coat only as many slices as you will be cooking at one time.
• Melt butter over medium heat then fry each slice of bread (melting more butter in the pan as needed) until golden brown, then flip to cook the other side.
• Transfer the French toast to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while cooking the rest of the slices.
• Serve with your toppings of choice: maple syrup, icing sugar, jams, fruit, etc.

Now, what about this extra special, holiday time version? For the bread, use pannettone!

But there are lots of other ways to use up bread, as I mentioned. Here are some details on how to go about tackling those:

Breadcrumbs

Bread doesn’t need to be stale – in fact, its best if you use dry but not stale bread. On its way to stale at most.

• If you’re making them by hand, use a coarse box grater (yes that thing you use to grate cheese) and grate the bread loaf directly on it. If you prefer to use a food processor (and this is easiest if you are making a LOT of breadcrumbs), cut the bread loaf into small cubes first for an even result. Don’t make the cubes TOO small or your crumbs will be too powdery.
• Pulse lightly until you get an even, nubbly result.

• Once you’ve got your breadcrumbs, you need to dry them out completely and give them a bit of colour. Spread them onto a baking sheet and place into a low oven (150C/300F) for about 20 minutes, moving the crumbs gently about 10 minutes in.Watch them for the light golden-brown colour and then they’ll be done.
• Dry breadcrumbs can be stored in a cool, dark place in an airtight container for a few weeks. Or – also in an airtight container – in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Croutons

Super easy! All you need is bread, a bit of melted butter or olive oil, salt, Parmesan (not strictly necessary but we like it) and powdered garlic (again, this is something we use – you may not want to).

• Cut the crusts off the bread and cut it into slices – it’s often easier to cube this way but if you like crusts, leave them on by all means.
• Cut the bread slices into cubes.
• Toss the bread cubes in the butter or olive oil until evenly coated. Sprinkle with  salt, cheese and garlic. Or  – any seasoning, really. Paprika? Go on!
• Spread the cubes out on an non-greased cookie sheet and bake at 180C/350F for 15 minutes or until browned.
• Let them cool and store them in an air tight container. They’ll keep in a cool, dark place for a few weeks.

More leftover discussions and suggestions coming soon. But for now, I gotta go make a cake.