What do I do with all this sourdough bread?

December 26, 2010 8:34 PM

OK. What can I make with all this homemade sourdough bread?

I've recently developed a really great starter and have become a sourdough bread-making maniac, which is incredibly fun and delicious but leaves me with a lot of excess bread. I give some of it away, but not all, and I wonder - what are the best uses?

Ideas I've had already are: French toast, croutons, strata, bread pudding. But what am I missing? Keep in mind the bread has a very strong sourdough flavor. I'd love suggestions for uses of stale as well as fresh loaves!

posted by ORthey to food & drink (12 answers total)

Panzanella.
posted by embrangled at 8:39 PM on December 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

this is not a problem.

-Amazing grilled cheese sandwiches or other simple sandwiches. Big pan bagnat-style sandwiches with whole loaves, cut, hollowed, filled, and wrapped back up.
-Cubes of bread for stuffing, pappas, puddings, etc. Cut the crusts off your bread, dry it, cut into cubes. Keep it in an airtight container or in the freezer. Ready when you need it.
-Ditto crumbs for breadings, toppings, you name it. Grind it in the food processor for the best texture.
-toast the heel or other irregular crusty parts, rub with garlic, use as chapons for soup or salad or whatever
- savory bread puddings. Charlottes, savory and sweet. Any number of little appetizer-y things on toasted or grilled bread, or flattened, spread, rolled up, and baked bread. You might want to cut small rounds with a biscuit cutter, dry/toast them until well and truly crisp, and keep for Melba toast-like applications.
posted by peachfuzz at 8:53 PM on December 26, 2010

Soup! (French Onion, Tomato Bread)

Sourdough Bread Bowls

Stuffing (mmmmm)

Parmesan Oregano Bread! (bread slices + butter + powdered Parmesan + oregano, toasted in the oven for 1 minute on broil till cheese crisps up)

Your very own Subway sandwich bread!

Pizza dough!

(OMFG I LOVE BREAD)
posted by patronuscharms at 8:54 PM on December 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Cinnamon rolls.


I've never used that recipe, it's just to give you an idea. The way I did it was just rolling out the dough thinly, then I found a filling recipe online that looked good. I spread the filling out, and rolled it up. I don't remember how long to cook it, but that recipe above should give you a good idea.

Personally I think that sourdough makes a really great cinnamon roll. It tempers the sweetness of the filling nicely.
posted by TooFewShoes at 9:06 PM on December 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

A Klondike gold rush theme party!
posted by Beardman at 9:11 PM on December 26, 2010

Sourdough bread is amazingly good in an egg strata, which is probably my favorite egg dish to make when you are making brunch for a decent number of people. You layer cubes of bread, cheese, veggies and breakfast meat, then pour eggs and milk over it all. The egg soaks through the bread and it makes something like an English pudding that is easy to slice and serve and even reheats pretty well. The basic idea is very flexible and adaptable to your own filling preference, but I absolutely love making it with a nice sourdough bread base.
posted by piratebowling at 9:21 PM on December 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Give it to me! It sounds amazing!
posted by MrsHarper at 9:44 PM on December 26, 2010

If you bake your sourdough into baguette shape, it slices easily horizontally and and then across, for panini, keeping intact the great crust. Porchetta, with a little extra olive oil drizzled in, is my favorite. Frankly, whenever I bake sourdough, I stop by a nearby bar-b-q joint for a pound of their pulled pork, then salt it up and season it at home, and make a couple porchetta for an easy lunch.
posted by paulsc at 10:27 PM on December 26, 2010

Monkey bread!
posted by whimsicalnymph at 11:13 PM on December 26, 2010

Ha, I am in the same situation (baked two new loaves tonight to test two different starters, despite already having most of a loaf left from three or four days ago). I have sliced mine up and bagged them, and put them in the freezer. That at least slows down the urgency. And frozen bread grates well for quick breadcrumbs.

I'm thinking bread-and-butter pudding for dessert tomorrow :)
posted by lollusc at 4:23 AM on December 27, 2010

More sourdough bread. Cut it up and soak it for a few hour in water (overnight, maybe?). Then incorporate it into your next batch of bread. This technique is most commonly used in rye breads, but it works for wheat bread, too. I don't have a formula handy, but I found a little more info at thefreshloaf.com.
posted by clockwork at 6:36 AM on December 27, 2010

Can you think of any places to give them away? A homeless shelter, fire station, school faculty lounge, nursing home, laundrymat? Slice and serve in the vestibule after church on Sunday?
posted by CathyG at 7:19 AM on December 27, 2010