USES FOR STALE BREAD

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 74, Issue 1, 15 January 1947, Page 105

USES FOR STALE BREAD

By

EVA TOPPING,

Rural Sociologist, Auckland.

EVEN in the most careful household stale bread sometimes . accumulates odd ends l of loaves which are really too hard for the table, a slice of bread not eaten at lunch, a piece of toast left from breakfast, or extra bread taken at a holiday weekend for. expected visitors who did not arrive. With ever-present thoughts of bread rationing in Britain and the thousands of people in Europe who cannot get enough bread for their needs, nobody likes to discard these odd pieces. Not one crumb need be wasted, for there are many ways of making use of stale bread.

/'\NE easy time-saving way of dealing with crusty pieces of .bread is to bake them slowly in a cooling oven until they are dry and crisp. Some of the pieces can be cut into fingers or squares before being baked and served as crunch; others should be cut into small dice for sippets with soup. If not needed at once both crunch and sippets will keep for some time if stored in. an airtight tin or jar.

All the rough-shaped pieces, crusts, and slices of toast can be baked and then crushed to fine crumbs with a rolling pin. Stored in a tin or jar,with a well-fitting lid they will keep perfectly, and are on hand for frying rissoles, croquettes, fish, chops, cutlets, and sausages; for sprinkling over savoury dishes like cauliflower or macaroni cheese, tomato and onion pie, and shepherd’s pie; or for use in baked or steamed puddings and savoury biscuits. .For steamed puddings, moisten the dry crumbs with hot milk or water and substitute half crumbs and half flour for the usual quantity of flour required. Toasted Crumb Recipes x Here, are some recipes' which use the toasted crumbs: — Fruit Betty Put layers of sweetened, prepared fruit in a piedish, alternating with layers of crumbs. Make the last layer of crumbs, sprinkled with sugar and dotted with butter. Bake until the fruit is tender, and the top crusty and golden brown. Soft fruits such *as blackberries, raspberries, currants, soft ripe pears, and grapes can be used raw, but gooseberries, plums, rhubarb, and the harder fruits need to be partly stewed before being baked. Crumb Fudge Cake 2 tablespoons syrup or honey 2oz. cocoa 2oz. butter ' 2oz. sugar flavouring (vanilla, almond 6oz. dried crumbs (not too peppermint, or orange) fine) Put syrup, butter, sugar, and cocoa into a saucepan and heat until melted. Stir in flavouring and breadcrumbs, mixing thoroughly; Spread evenly in a well-greased tin and press flat with the back of a spoon. Mark into fingers and leave to set for at least 24 hours. Keeping for two or three days improves the flavour. Crisp Cheese Biscuits 2oz. butter or mild dripping.. | teaspoon cayenne pepper 2oz. grated cheese | teaspoon salt4 cup flour small teacup water 1 cup dried breadcrumbs

Rub fat into flour, add cheese, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper, and mix to stiff paste with water. Roll very thin, cut into .shapes,'•■and bake in a moderate oven.

{-lb. breadcrumbs Sugar to taste lib. pears or apples 2oz. suet loz. dates (optional) . Grease a pudding basin and coat it with some of the breadcrumbs. Mix the rest of the crumbs with the finelychopped suet. Pare or core the fruit and mix with chopped dates. Put one-third of the breadcrumbs and suet into the basin, then half the fruit, another layer of breadcrumbs, then fruit again, finishing with the remaining breadcrumbs and suet mixture. Cover the pudding with a greased paper and steam it for 2 hours. Turn it out on a hot dish and serve with custard or sweet sauce.

Apple Pie with Cinnamon and Crumb Crust

Fill an ovenware dish with stewed apples. Take 1 cup breadcrumbs, J cup sugar, | cup butter, lard, or mild dripping, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Cream the fat and sugar, and add breadcrumbs and spice. Spread the mixture over the apples and bake until the crust is slightly browned. Bread in Puddings The crumb parts of stale bread can be used for puddings and stuffings. Bread pudding appears on most family tables now and then, but it need not always be. the same* kind of bread pudding, for their are ways of varying the theme. Choose one from the following recipes, some of which may be new to the family. Summer Pudding Rinse out a pudding basin with cold water and line it neatly with slices of crumb bread cut to fit so that, no basin shows through the lining.. Stew enough fruit to fill the basin, sweeten to taste, and pour it into the basin while still hot, reserving a little of the juice. • Cut a round of

bread to make a lid, set it in place, and pour over it the rest of the juice. Cover with a flat plate and put a weight on top. Leave in a cool place until next day and serve cold with custard, top milk, or junket. The stewed fruit should be fairly firm and the slices of bread thick or the pudding will collapse when turned out of the basin. Syrup or Honey Bread Pudding Bto 10 slices of lg tablespoons stale bread sugar 3 tablespoons 2 eggs honey or syrup 1 pint milk 2 tablespoons pinch salt butter . Remove the crusts, cut the bread into small cubes, and put it into a greased piedish. Beat the eggs and stir in the honey or syrup. Melt the butter and heat half the milk. Pour the hot milk over the bread cubes. Put the melted butter and the remainder of the milk into the liquid mixture, pour it over the soaked bread, and bake in a moderate oven for about 1 hour. Do not let the custard boil, and do not use" too much bread or the pudding will be stodgy. Bread Pudding with Variations 2 cups stale raisins, sultanas, breadcrumbs or currants 1 quart milk 2 eggs J cup sugar i teaspoon mixed i cup melted spice or 1 teabutter spoon vanilla Heat the milk and pour it over the breadcrumbs, cool, and stir in sugar, butter, flavouring, and slightly-beaten

eggs. Pour into a greased fireproof dish and bake in a gentle oven for about 1 hour. Chocolate: Omit the fruit and spice and add 2 tablespoons or more of cocoa and vanilla flavouring. Queen’s: Omit the fruit. Beat 1 egg white very stiff and fold in 1 tablespoon sugar. Spread top of pudding with jam or jelly and cover with the meringue before baking. The extra yolk can be used in the pudding. Coco-nut: Omit fruit and spice and add J to J cup of desiccated coco-nut to the bread before soaking it. Savoury Stuffings Savoury stuffings of all kinds need stale bread as a basis. Enclose them in joints, poultry, rabbits, or fish, bake or fry them as forcemeat balls, or cook and serve them separately in an ovenware dish. Sage and Onion Stuffing (For ducks, pork, colonial goose, etc.) lib. onions 2 large table8 sage leaves spoons stale salt and pepper breadcrumbs Peel the onions, boil them for about 10 minutes, strain, and chop finely. Add the sage (previously dried in a slow oven or on a rack and powdered between the fingers), breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper. The onions are usually moist enough to bind the mixture, but some of the onion water can be added if the stuffiing is too dry and crumbly.

Forcemeat (For fowl, turkey, rabbit, veal, or fish.) 2oz. suet or 4oz. breadcrumbs melted dripping grated rind of i i teaspoon thyme lemon or mixed herbs 1 egg 1 teaspoon milk chopped parsley salt and pepper Mix all the dry ingredients and bind with lightly-beaten egg, adding a little milk if necessary. Use as stuffing, or form into small balls and fry or bake. For filling marrow or pumpkin use either the forcemeat or the sage and onion recipe and add skinned sausages, minced meat, chopped bacon or ham. Parsley Stuffing |lb. beef suet or 1 breakfast cup dripping breadcrumbs 1 dessertspoon 1 egg chopped parsley salt and pepper Chop the suet and parsley, mix with crumbs, salt and pepper. Bind with the beaten egg, adding a little stock or milk if necessary to give a soft consistency. Stuffing using Soaked Stale Bread Boz. stale bread 4 tablespoons (crusts included) chopped parsley 1 onion or leek 2 teaspoons mixed 1 stick celery herbs loz. dripping or 1 egg suet salt and pepper Soak the crusts in water until soft, squeeze them dry, and' place in a basin. Beat well with a fork to remove lumps. Mix with finely-chopped onion and celery, add suet or dripping (melted), parsley, herbs, salt and pepper, and finally the egg. Breakfast Dishes Egg-and-bread Sauce with Bacon Put a slice of stale bread about IJin. thick into a basin, pour over it 1 cup of hot milk, cover with a plate or saucer, and leave to soak for a few minutes. Beat it up with a fork, add. salt and pepper and 1 egg, and beat again. Fry bacon, remove from pan and keep hot. Turn the egg and bread mixture into the frying pan and cook, stirring constantly for a few minutes until the egg is set. If the bread is very dry more milk should be added before cooking. Eggs in Bread Nest \ Take enough stale bread to fill a piedish, and pour hot milk over to soak it. Beat with a fork, add chopped parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper. Spread in a well-greased piedish and make depressions in the bread by lightly pressing in the bottom of a cup or back of a spoon. Break the required number of eggs, one into each depression, season, cover the top with dried breadcrumbs, and dot with butter, dripping, or bacon fat. Bake until the. eggs are set.

Photographs, with the exception of that on page 105, by Sparrow Industrial Pictures Ltd.