Stale bread : how to preserve it and for which recipes it can be used. Here are the various uses of stale bread in the kitchen.
When it comes to food waste in Italy and around the world , bread is the most thrown away food. Yet, stale bread is the easiest ingredient to recycle and allows the preparation of numerous recipes, including those typical of the Italian food and wine tradition. Stale bread is very versatile, it lends itself to recipes based on soups, croquettes, gnocchi…
To preserve leftover bread for longer , slice it before it is completely stale (before it hardens) and let it dry in the air. When the bread is well dried (stale), store it in a paper bag. To use stale bread you have two options: chop it to obtain breadcrumbs, moisten it (in broth, water, milk..) to prepare different recipes. Let’s see some of the recipes to recycle stale bread.
Stale Bread Dumplings – Recipe to Reuse Dry Bread
For this recipe you will need 4 stale rolls , 70 grams of sliced cold cuts, 150 grams of cooked vegetables of your choice, 100 grams of flour, 2 eggs and, finally, salt, pepper and parmesan to taste.
Break the stale bread into pieces and add two glasses of water, the sliced meat, the finely chopped vegetables, eggs, salt, pepper and mix everything together adding the flour. Transfer the ingredients thus obtained to a blender: blend everything together so as to obtain a dough that is not too soft. If the dough is too soft, add more stale bread or flour.
Using a teaspoon, make many small shapes of the dough that you will have to put directly into boiling water. When the gnocchi rise to the surface, remove them from the pot and season them with oil and parmesan. Among the recommended combinations we point out: spinach and speck, bresaola and potatoes or mortadella and pumpkin. Thanks to this recipe you can not only use stale bread (dry bread left over) but also other leftover vegetables or cured meats.
Passatelli are a traditional dish from Emilia Romagna, also very popular in the Marche. It is a soup originating from the province of Pesaro and Urbino, so much so that they are often indicated in the menus of typical trattorias with the name of Minestra Romagnola . For the complete recipe: how to prepare passatelli . The photo above shows passatelli made from dry bread and the iron used to obtain the characteristic shape.
Pizza with stale bread – Another recipe to reuse dry bread
The ingredients are few: stale and leftover bread, tomato sauce, mozzarella and milk. This recipe with leftover bread can be used as an aperitif or starter. Moisten the slices of stale bread by dipping them in milk. Place the moistened slices in a baking tray, arranging them next to each other, trying not to leave too many empty spaces (this will make it easier to season them). In the gaps between each slice, add pieces of bread. Season this base as if it were a classic pizza dough: spread the tomato paste and oregano. Halfway through cooking, add the mozzarella. Place the tray in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes until you notice the appearance of a crispy crust on the edges.
Panzanella, the recipe to recycle dry bread
Like passatelli, panzanella is also a typical dish of our food and wine tradition. Panzanella, also called pansanella or panmolle or panmòllo, is a typical dish of central Italy (Tuscany, Marche, Umbria and Lazio). The original recipe includes stale bread , red onion, basil, tomato and everything seasoned with oil, vinegar and salt. To make the dish more interesting we suggest adding a few pieces of mozzarella. It is a very simple dish that can be enriched with a multitude of ingredients (and kitchen leftovers!) such as corn, pickles, grilled vegetables…
The recipe for croutons, excellent for reusing stale bread
In this case, the leftover bread should not be stored in slices but in cubes. The cubes thus obtained should be browned in a pan with extra virgin olive oil and, if you like, you can add aromatic herbs. Remove the croutons when they have taken on the classic golden color. Bread croutons are perfect to accompany soups, broths, cream soups and fish-based dishes.
