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Getting The Most Out Of Our Daily Bread

Photo by Lynn Kessel

French toast with orange sauce is a great way to use day-old bread. It's delicious and easy to make.

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Lynn Kessel

Published: January 14, 2008

Call me crazy, but I don't like throwing food away, especially bread. Like the Italians and French, we Germans worship a good loaf of bread. But I'm also a self-respecting child of Depression-era parents who raised me with a hefty nurturing of frugality.

My brother reminded me recently that when we were kids, the Johnston family next door — all six of them — refused to eat bread heels. But instead of dumping the leftover bread in the garbage, Mrs. Johnston collected it in a bread bag and then stored it in a bag in her freezer.

When the bag was full, she sent it across her garden of corn and carrots to our family. We were weaned on two-heel sandwiches and never thought twice about it. Lots of people seem to avoid bread heels through the simple maneuver of opening a bag of bread and removing the desired number of slices from the middle.

After repeating this process for several days, they're left with two heels and a bag, which inevitably end up being tossed. Not so in the Kessel household. Even the bread bag was turned inside out, rinsed and attached with a clothespin to the cafe curtain over the sink to dry. Then Mom used it for who knows what.

The outer hard portion of bread is referred to as the crust. It's the part I reach for first when it's part of a nice baguette, Italian loaf or even banana bread. Actually, I have grown to love the crust more than the inner, soft part of the bread, which is called the crumb by culinary professionals.

I'm not talking about the small bits of bread that often fall off as we cut or eat a piece of bread. The professional definition is used to describe the texture of a food, especially breads or baked goods.
These days, I don't eat much packaged, pre-sliced bread, but occasionally, I'll buy a loaf.

I'll fix and eat several sandwiches and then go days without touching it, and before I know it, it's long past its prime.

Here's where most people discard their bread. What they fail to realize is that leftover bread has lots of uses. It can easily become croutons, bread crumbs, soup thickener or become the main ingredient for bread pudding or stuffing.

Stale bread usually says one thing to me, though — French toast.
Here's a recipe that actually calls for day-old bread found on the packaging of my new Calphalon square griddle I got for Christmas.

FRENCH TOAST WITH ORANGE SAUCE
FRENCH TOAST
1 day-old loaf sourdough bread or baguette, sliced 1-inch thick
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel
SAUCE
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons freshly grated orange peel

Mix eggs, milk, spices, vanilla and orange peel together until batter is smooth and pour over sliced bread. Refrigerate approximately about 1 hour or until bread absorbs the egg mixture, turning once. Preheat pan on medium heat.

Arrange bread slices on the surface of the pan and cook 2 to 4 minutes, until the center of each slice begins to set and slices begin to brown. Flip and continue cooking an additional 2 to 4 minutes.
To make the orange sauce, whisk together the orange juice and cornstarch in a medium sauce pan until smooth.

Add sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens. Add the butter, lemon juice and orange peel, then stir until butter is incorporated. Pour over French toast. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Lynn Kessel can be reached at lkessel@mac.com or P.O. Box 286, Ruskin FL 33575-0286. Readers are encouraged to send their favorite recipes, comments and suggestions.

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