Bread Leftovers

Bread is an ancient food and times of intermittent starvation created disparate recipes to make use of the smallest amount. Croutons, coatings and bread cubes are fairly well known, I want to present some of the lesser known titbits to you:

Bread Drink

Bread Soup

Bread Chips

Bread Toppings

A drink from fermented bread, popular in eastern Europe, Kvass. Full of vitamins and enzymes, it is a healthy and refreshing drink with a mild sour flavour. Take the bread leftovers, cut them into thin slices and heat them on high temperature in a pan without oil. Let the bread get hard and dark. Many people prefer to roast the bread until its all black and ashes, but I prefer the flavour of caramelised bread.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams old bread (0.5lb)
• 2 liters of water (70 oz.)
• 100 grams sugar (1 cup)
• 20 grams yeast (1 tablespoon)

Equipment:

• 2 bowls/containers that can hold a gallon
• Sifter
• Pan
• Funnel
• Bottles for bottling

Put the bread into a big heat proof bowl that can hold at least 2 liters (ca. 70 oz.) of water. Boil the water and fill it into the bowl (you can add a metallic spoon to take stress from the glass when you fill in hot water). Let the bread soak at least 4 hours in the water. It will look like an exhibit from the hunterian museum, but trust me, it's tasty.

Pour the batch into another bowl and filter the bread out with a sifter or colander. I have put the batch back into the first container because of the useful lid it has.

Add the cup of sugar with the yeast and let it rest for at least 10 hours, cover with a paper towel or dishcloth. Actually I had some leftover from a ginger bug and could add yeast with flavour .

After the fermentation phase you should prepare the bottles by cleaning them in boiling water. As if you prepared a jam jar for canning. The secound picture shows the growth pattern of yeast in a liquid. Fascinating!

Use a sifter to filter out all solid matter and use a funnel to fill the bottles. Usually people in Eastern Europe now add dried fruits to give the microorganisms a resource for nitrogen and to add flavour. Close the bottles and put them in the fridge.

After 3 days in the fridge the Kvass is ready to be comsumed. At the bottom of the bottle you can see a layer of fresh and active yeast that you can use to make bread. This is actually a way to keep yeast always available in your household. If you don't make bread, you make a bread drink. Serve it during the summer as a refreshment or with a savoury feast to assist digestion.

Enjoy your Kvass!

Got some really stale bread that already breaks into pieces and shows no traces of mould? Use it in a bread soup which originally was eaten during lenten season. The bread imitates the firmness of meat.

Ingredients:

• 1 liter of broth
• 2-3 slices stale bread
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 shallots
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1 pinch pepper

Equipment:

• casserole
• cheese grater
• kitchen knife
  

Serves 4 as appetiser and takes 40 minutes to prepare.

Dice the onions and garlic, glaze them in a cooking pot. Melt some butter in a pan, when the onions are ready, fill 1 liter of broth into the cooking pot. While the pot is heating up again, preheat your stove to 180°C (360°F) on fan-assisted or convection setting. Put the stale bread into the pan and brown it on both sides to get a lot of aroma. Let the broth simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile dice the shallots and grate the cheese. Then spill the bread out of the pan into your casserole. Take a spoon to spread the bread out (it's hot, don't burn your fingers!). Put a layer of shallots on the bread, then cover it with the grated cheese. Spice it up if desired and then fill in the broth. To avoid a mess you can use a laddle to fill the broth gently into the mid. Check the taste of the soup and add salt if needed. Do not add the pepper, we don't want to burn it in the oven, it's much better fresh on top of the soup.

At 180°C (360°F) bake the soup for 20 minutes on fan-assisted or convection setting because of all the vaporising water.

Fill it into pre-warmed soup bowls or the cheese can flocculate on the bowls. Serve with more grated cheese on the top and some culinary herbs, spice with pepper.

Enjoy your meal!

Small leftovers of stale bread, but not big enough to crisp it up again? Make bread chips:

Ingredients:

• 200 grams stale bread
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper
• Culinary herbs or chili

Slice the bread very thin and in small handily parts.

Sprinkle the oil and spices over the slices. Yes that is a chili grinder in the picture ..

Bake at 180°C (360°F) for at least 15 minutes, depending on the coarseness of the bread up to 30 minutes.

Enjoy your crunchy bread chips!

Bread can actually be used instead of cheese as a heat shield for food in your stove. Not only will the maillard reaction and caramelisation add a lot of taste to your dish, it gives a smokey aroma with less fat and a crunchy chewing experience.

Ingredients:

• Bread
• Garlic clove
• Vegetable oil
• Herbs
• Spices

Put the bread leftovers into a food processor, add desired herbs, garlic, zest of a lime and a spoon of vegetable oil.

Grease your casserole, fill in some broth and put the vegetables in. Cover the vegetables with the toppings and bake according to the adequat recipe. The bread doesn't have a melting time which makes it a perfect topping, done in any time. Adds a crunchy chewing sensation with a smoky flavour.

Enjoy your meal!

I hope you enjoyed reading the instructable and will try out some of these. English is not my first language, if you have any questions or suggestion for improvements, feel free to ask or tell. Thank you in advance!