Sometimes you know something is off with your dough, but you cross your fingers and bake it anyway only to have your suspicious confirmed when you lift the lid on your baking vessel. You’ve got a brick, a doorstop, a frisbee. Whatever nickname you give it, this isn’t something you can simply toast and make all better.
So should you toss the bread in the garbage? Compost it? Is there anything else you can do with it?
That depends. Once it has cooled down, take a bite of it. If the flavor is unappealing, then yes, toss or compost it. But if it tastes good, then you can make bread crumbs and/or croutons with it.
Bread Crumbs
Bread crumbs are useful for coating foods that will be fried e.g. chicken or fish. You can add bread crumbs to ground meat to make meatballs more tender, and also to soups and sauces to make them thicker.
Preheat your oven to 300F.
Cut the bread into small pieces, less than two inches on any dimension.
Pulse in a food processor until you have small crumbs. You may have to work in batches.
Spread the crumbs in a thin layer on a baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes, then toss and bake longer if needed to get the crumbs to be golden and dry.
Let cool completely and either store as is or put back the crumbs back in your food processor to grind into finer crumbs.
Storing the bread crumbs in the freezer is the best way to ensure they will last for a long time.
Crumbs before baking
Croutons
Croutons are tasty as additions to salads and soups. Note that some bread is simply too dense to be made into croutons. For example, the doorstop bread in the photo above resulted in croutons that were tasty but a bit too hard.
Preheat your oven to 300F.
Cut the bread in slices, then each slice into strips, and the strips into cubes.
Place all the cubes in a bowl, toss with olive oil, herbs, spices, and salt. _Quantities are to-taste. Some options to choose from include garlic powder, paprika, oregano, parsley and much more._
Spread the oiled and seasoned cubes on a baking sheet.
Bake for 20-35 minutes or until the croutons are toasted and crunchy. The bake time varies significantly depending on the moisture content and density of your bread cubes.
Once cool, store in a closed container and use within 3-4 days.
Croutons before baking
