Use your loaf - top tips for reducing bread waste

Bread tops the list of most commonly wasted foods in the UK. We throw away almost 900,000 tonnes of bread every year - that’s a staggering 24 million slices every day! The easiest way to stop wasting bread? Buy only what you need. Sometimes though, that's easier said than done!

Here at Too Good To Go, our team is committed to reducing waste wherever we can. Maggie, our Office Manager extraordinaire here in the UK (and possibly the most organised person alive) is particularly ace at ensuring bread doesn’t get wasted. We asked her to share her top tips and recipes. 

Make it last

No matter what kind of bread you have, never keep it in the fridge. Contrary to popular belief, it won’t make it fresh for longer. The low temperature will extract moisture and actually accelerate staleness. 

Keep shop-bought, sliced bread in the original packaging at room temperature. If you still have a few slices left after two to three days, simply pop them in the freezer and toast them later.

With no preservatives, bakery loaves have a shorter life and will go stale and dry out much faster. Turns out bakeries use those brown paper bags for a reason: they actually absorb excess moisture and prevent the crust from going rubbery, so your bread should be good for a few days.

Perk up slightly stale bread

To perk up a slightly stale slice of bread, sprinkle it with water and heat it in the oven for 10 minutes or so.

Make croutons

Make croutons to use in your salads and soups. Just brush both sides of your bread slices with butter or olive oil, cut them into small squares, arrange them on a baking sheet and bake at 175C for 15 minutes. Leave the croutons to cool, and store them in an airtight container.

Make breadcrumbs

This a particularly great way to use up leftover crusts and the ends of bread, but any stale bread will make great breadcrumbs. Toast the pieces in the oven until firm, then simply blitz them in a food processor. Use your breadcrumbs to make homemade favourites such as chicken parmigiana, mac and cheese, scotch eggs or breaded fish.

Breakfast is (b)ready: make French toast

There’s a bunch of recipes for French toast out there, and most of them are surprisingly easy. So even if you’re not exactly Masterchef material, you can whip up a mouth-watering meal.

All you need to do is soak the bread in a mixture of beaten egg and milk or cream until it’s coasted, then fry in butter until browned. Add parmesan, parsley, salt and pepper for a delicious savoury version. Or if you have a sweet tooth, step up your French toast game by spreading Nutella on one side of your slice, then covering it with another before soaking in the eggy mixture and frying for a naughty weekend breakfast.

Make a perfect panzanella

The classic Tuscan salad, panzanella, comes in many different variations, but the one thing that’s always there is bread. And, believe it or not, stale bread works better than fresh! If you have a few slices of sourdough or ciabatta past its prime, make this delicious salad to evoke memories of sunny summer days.

Tuscan panzanella

(Serves 4. Vegan friendly)

Ingredients:

• A handful of fresh basil
• 4tbs extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1tbs capers, rinsed
• 300g stale sourdough bread or ciabatta, torn into chunks
• 500g ripe tomatoes, washed and sliced
• 60g pitted olives, sliced (Kalamata work best, but black olives will do just fine)
• ½ red onion, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to season

Blend most of the basil in a food processor with the capers and olive oil. Transfer half of the herby oil to a bowl, add the bread and mix well, then set aside so that the bread chunks can absorb the moisture.

Place the tomatoes in a large bowl and lightly squash them to gently release some juice. Mix with the olives, onion slices and a drizzle of olive oil. Add the bread, the herby oil and the vinegar, and mix well. Garnish with the remaining basil leaves, drizzle with more olive oil and serve straight away.

Bread and butter pudding

Bread and butter pudding is a British classic, and this recipe gives it a decadent twist. The bread is soaked in a creamy chocolate custard and finished with - yes, you’ve guessed right - more chocolate. This is comfort food at its best.

Chocolate bread & butter pudding

Ingredients:

• 40g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease the tin
• 8 slices of two-day-old sliced white bread
• 50g raisins and dried cranberries (or, if you’re not a fan, a handful of chocolate chips)
• 400ml whole milk
• 50ml double cream
• 100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa works best), roughly chopped, plus 20g extra for topping
• 75g caster sugar
• 3 eggs

Grease a medium-sized ovenproof dish.

Cut the crusts off the bread* and lightly butter and cut each slice into four triangles. Arrange half of the slices, buttered side up, in the tin. Sprinkle with half of the dried fruit or chocolate chips, then top with the remaining bread and fruit (or chocolate chips).

Place the milk, cream, sugar and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the eggs in a large jug or bowl, then slowly add the milky chocolate mixture, whisking continuously. Pour the mixture over the bread, making sure it’s all covered, and set aside for 20 minutes or so. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C (or 160C fan). Place the dish in the oven for about 30 minutes - remove when slightly puffed, and beginning to set on top.

To make the drizzle, place the extra chocolate in a small bowl and add 1½tbs boiling water. Whisk until smooth, then drizzle over the pudding before serving.

*But don’t throw them away - instead, make breadcrumbs (see tip 4 above!)

This post was written by Maggie Sychta