Need a tip for recycling your hard bread? To avoid throwing away and eating responsibly, discover our anti-waste recipes with leftover bread and make the most of your bakery baskets while saving money! Give one a try!
Transform your stale bread into a fresh loaf!
Don’t quite know how to use the bread you bought yesterday from our Phenix app? Do you have leftover bread that is too dry but the bakery is closed? Look no further – there is a simple technique to make it a little fresher!
Preheat your oven to 180°C.
Moisten your bread under cold water, without soaking it.
Bake it for about 5 minutes on the oven rack.
The bread will be soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, just like fresh bread! We advise you to eat it quickly and not to wait for the next meal.
How does it work? The heat of the oven transforms the water contained in the crust of the bread into steam, which will diffuse into the bread to soften it. Baking also gives the crust a crispness!
What can I make with stale bread?
Recycling dry bread is actually not that complicated. There are many anti-waste recipes to avoid wasting and it is not even a sacrifice to taste them! Here are a few to inspire you.
Toast and Bruschetta
Perfect for aperitifs or as a starter, everyone enjoys goat’s cheese toast and bruschetta. Did you also know that “bruschetta” is an Italian sandwich topped with mozzarella, pesto, crushed tomatoes and other ingredients?
All these preparations are usually made with fresh bread, but dry bread can also be used! Once toasted and topped, you won’t know the difference.
Cut thin slices of bread, fill them with the ingredients of your choice and put them under the grill for a few minutes. It’s quick and efficient!
French toast
Once considered the dish of the poor, French toast is now a super popular breakfast and snack food! The advantage? It allows you to avoid wasting leftover bread and even pastries, as it can be made from brioche or bread pudding.
What about a savoury version? French toast with cheese or tomato could be a great way to make dinner!
French toast recipe
For the basic recipe, you will need
12 slices of bread or pastries
2 tablespoons of sugar
20 cl of milk
3 eggs
butter
Of course, you can then add the ingredients of your choice to your French toast: melted chocolate, fruit, cheese, etc.
Preparation steps:
Mix your eggs with the milk and sugar in a soup plate.
Place your slices in the mixture quickly, without soaking them too much.
Melt a knob of butter in a pan to sear them.
Brown the bread, about 1 minute on each side.
Homemade croutons
There’s nothing better than homemade croutons! They are extremely easy to make and are so much better than store-bought croutons. In addition to not wasting your stale bread, you will save a bit of money too!
Croutons are perfect for salads or in a soup. You can even incorporate them to add a touch of crunch to the rest of your dishes, like coq au vin for example!
Those with a sweet tooth might even steal a few from the jar.
The recipe for croutons
Cut your dry bread into small cubes
Mix them with a crushed garlic clove and olive oil
Add the spices of your choice (herbes de Provence, etc.)
Place your croutons on a baking tray
Bake at 200°C for about 5 minutes
Keep a close eye on the cooking time, the stale bread croutons should brown and not burnt.
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are simply made from breaking down small bits of bread and are a perfect anti-waste recipe as they can be kept for up to 3 months in an airtight glass jar! You’ll always have some on hand to add to your dishes.
How to make breadcrumbs?
The bread must be very dry to prevent the breadcrumbs from becoming mouldy during storage. The ideal is to dry the bread in the oven for about 30 minutes at 90°C. And to save energy, put them in the oven while you’re cooking another dish!
Tip: Flavour your breadcrumbs with aromatic herbs, paprika, pink pepper and other spices.
Once your bread is very dry and cooled, simply blend it in the mixer and take out the breadcrumbs!
What are breadcrumbs used for?
Breadcrumbs can be used on fish, meat and even vegetables. It also makes veg a little more manageable for kids (and adults too) with the extra crunch!
Breadcrumbs are perfect for absorbing water too, which is why they are often used in meatballs or stuffed tomatoes.
Even more delicious, sweet breadcrumbs can be used to give a crunch to pies or crumble.
Making a dish more substantial
Here is a quick, excellent solution if you don’t want to spend time in the kitchen and want to make a dish more filling!
Instead of making croutons, you can use hard bread pieces as they are in your vegetable soup. You don’t have to do anything more and it’s delicious.
To take advantage of all our tips, discover the bakers’ surprise baskets at low prices on the Phenix application!
