Five uses for day-old bread

When I've spent two days making bread from scratch I'm not letting a single, hard-earned, day-old breadcrumb go to waste. But you don't have to make your own bread to want to save pennies. So here are a couple of ideas to use up day-old or stale bread, whether homemade or store bought.

1.) Dessert/snack. You can use it in bread pudding, which is not my favorite food, or you can cut it in slices, warm it in the oven until just softened and spread it with melted chocolate or Nutella. (see above)

2.) Salad croutons. Cut the bread in large cubes, saute it in butter until coated. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and parmesan and toast in the oven, turning once to brown evenly. Let the croutons cool and toss them in a salad with a dressing like the vinaigrette I used below.

 3.) Dinner: Panzanella. See my post from last year for a yummy bread salad. You have to try this with fresh summer tomatoes. Mmmm.

4.) Lunch: Goat cheese toasts. Don't have time or have bread that's too rustic to make grilled cheese? Toast the bread in your toaster oven, drizzle with olive oil and spread with goat cheese for lunch. You can also use cream cheese or ricotta cheese.

5.) And then of course, there are breadcrumbs, which can be used in any course. Slice the bread and toast it in the oven until well browned and crisp but not burned. Let cool. Pulse in a food processor until fine and store in the freezer.

How do you use your stale bread?