All of us are familiar with the prayer, "Give us this day, our daily bread." But sometimes you are stuck with more bread than you know what to do with.
Bread that is not quite fresh enough for sandwiches but not stale enough to throw away. There are a number of things you could do with the odd slices.
To start with, you could make croutons for soup. They go with all kinds of soup but taste particularly good with tomato soup.
Cut the slices into tiny squares and:
Fry them with a little butter on a frying pan
Deep fry them in white oil until crisp and brown
Spread the squares on an oven tray and bake until crisp if you are dieting.
You could make fresh crumbs in the mixie by tearing the slices into little pieces and then running it at the slowest speed. Never run more than a slice at a time.
Remember, fresh crumbs must be used immediately. They would make a nice, crisp coating for cutlets or tikka. If you want to store the crumbs, you must toast them until they turn crisp and brown. Crush them with a rolling pin. Keep in an air-tight container for future use.
Another way to use them would be to make bread pakoras. Make a savoury batter with gram flour or plain white flour.
If you are using plain white flour, you must also add a tablespoon of butter before adding the other ingredients to it or the pakoras will become too hard. Add salt pepper/chilly powder, finely shredded onion and a pinch of garam masala and just enough water to make a thick coating consistency. Cut the slices into triangles, dip them into the batter and deep fry in refined oil.
To make a special French-toast, butter the slices, adding a cheese slice betwee the two. Beat a couple of eggs with salt and pepper. Coat the cheese sandwich well with the egg and fry on a flat frying pan until crisp. You could cut it into four pieces and press each piece down with a toothpick. Serve hot with salad.
Old bread is also suitable for making the traditional bread-and butter pudding. Butter the slices, cutting off the crust and cut into small squares. For four slices of bread you will require:
Three eggs
Two cups of milk
Six-eight tablespoons of sugar
Two teaspoons of vanilla essence and
A handful of raisins
Butter the pudding dish well and place the small squares of bread with the raisins. You could also add some sliced almonds to the slices. Beat the eggs with milk, vanilla and sugar (adding a little at a time) until it is light and bubbly.
Pour it over the bread squares. Let the mixture stand for an hour until most of the milk has been absorbed by the bread pieces. Bake at 200 C for half-an-hour or a little longer if required. A fork inserted should come out clean when the baking is complete. Tastes good both hot and cold.
If there are youngsters in the house, you could make this simple dessert. Take half a cup of sugar, half a cup of water and a pinch of cinnamon powder or nutmeg powder. Mix and stir over the fire until the sugar is melted and it just comes to boil.
Remove and keep aside. Cut the bread slices into bite-size pieces and fry until crisp. Dip the fried pieces in the syrup one by one and keep aside to cool. Kids will love a handful with their milk!