Healthy ways to consume a lot of leftover bread?
October 1, 2018 4:15 PM Subscribe
Our neighbour has gifted us with two unwrapped loaves of bread. This is much more bread than we usually eat, especially now that I'm being more careful of my caloric intake. The only thing I can think of doing with it is slicing and freezing it for my occasional piece of toast. Can anyone think of a better use for it that doesn't entail eating a lot of empty calories?
Best answer: For what it’s worth, I’d go with the slice and freeze option too.
posted by Champagne Supernova at 4:26 PM on October 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Champagne Supernova at 4:26 PM on October 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
Toast is a good vehicle for peanut or almond butter, as well as avocado, depending on your interest.
Make some of the bread into Croutons for soup or salad.
French Onion Soup uses toasted bread well. It’s delightful but not especially beneficial unless it’s a cold or rainy day.
posted by childofTethys at 4:27 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Make some of the bread into Croutons for soup or salad.
French Onion Soup uses toasted bread well. It’s delightful but not especially beneficial unless it’s a cold or rainy day.
posted by childofTethys at 4:27 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
bread pudding, which is indeed a ton of calories, but perhaps you have someone who you love and can gift it to
posted by GuyZero at 4:41 PM on October 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 4:41 PM on October 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Freeze it until you get invited to a potluck. Then make either sweet or savory bread pudding.
posted by suelac at 4:41 PM on October 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by suelac at 4:41 PM on October 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Make croutons and freeze.
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 4:45 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 4:45 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Breakfast strata! Then cut it up and have a square for breakfast every day. You can load it up with veggies to counterbalance the bread.
posted by lyssabee at 4:59 PM on October 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by lyssabee at 4:59 PM on October 1, 2018 [6 favorites]
You can even freeze bread cubes for a strata-to-be-named-later.
posted by sarajane at 5:07 PM on October 1, 2018
posted by sarajane at 5:07 PM on October 1, 2018
Best answer: If you slice and freeze it, you preserve pretty much all the options. Homemade bread wil make exceptional French toast.
posted by theora55 at 5:11 PM on October 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 5:11 PM on October 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
I agree on slicing and freezing. Avocado toast is fantastic, and sliced, the bread is a lot easier for you to vary what you do with it vs croutoning it.
This is my favorite dinner involving bread. It. Is. So. Good.
Don't feed it to ducks, please.
posted by vivzan at 5:28 PM on October 1, 2018 [14 favorites]
This is my favorite dinner involving bread. It. Is. So. Good.
Don't feed it to ducks, please.
posted by vivzan at 5:28 PM on October 1, 2018 [14 favorites]
Maybe Pappa al Pomodoro aka Tuscan bread and tomato soup? (NYT recipe; quite good and there are other good variations.) It freezes decently, too.
posted by vers at 5:45 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by vers at 5:45 PM on October 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also, in case people don’t click on the link for why you shouldn’t feed bread to ducks, swans in the pond near me developed angel wing, a serious and often fatal deformity, because people fed them bread, which is nutritionally deficient. Ducks fed bread can develop it too.
posted by FencingGal at 6:43 PM on October 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by FencingGal at 6:43 PM on October 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yeah, we always kept extra bread in the freezer. You can also freeze breadcrumbs.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:49 PM on October 1, 2018
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:49 PM on October 1, 2018
I’d slice and freeze. We use it to soak up grease/fat when we cook meatloaf and other similar dishes (put it in the ends of the pan to sop it up). Use some for the recipes above for a communal meal. Etc.
posted by anya32 at 7:56 PM on October 1, 2018
posted by anya32 at 7:56 PM on October 1, 2018
You could let some of the bread dry out and then process into crumbs. You can also grate, if you don't have a processor. They will keep for months if they are really dry, and can be used any way you'd use bread crumbs - I do this routinely when I buy a baguette and then don't finish it.
posted by citygirl at 8:04 PM on October 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by citygirl at 8:04 PM on October 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Mushroom bread pudding! https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/wild-mushroom-bread-pudding-240982
posted by Don_K at 7:42 AM on October 2, 2018
posted by Don_K at 7:42 AM on October 2, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks for all of your suggestions. We ended up going the wrap-and-freeze route, so I'm all set for toast (or whatever else) for the foreseeable future.
As an aside, every leftover bread thread I found had both "feed it to the ducks" and "don't feed it to the ducks" as options so I was pleased that the ducks who have somehow managed to get MeFi accounts are continuing their debate here.
posted by suetanvil at 6:51 PM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
As an aside, every leftover bread thread I found had both "feed it to the ducks" and "don't feed it to the ducks" as options so I was pleased that the ducks who have somehow managed to get MeFi accounts are continuing their debate here.
posted by suetanvil at 6:51 PM on October 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
« Older What's the state of circumcision, culturally and... | Should I learn to stop worrying and love their... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Botanizer at 4:18 PM on October 1, 2018 [7 favorites]