What Do You Do With Stale Bread?

So as you all know, there is an abundance of bread in our apartment and instead of making buckets of bread crumbs, I thought I might try to find a recipe that would help me use it all up because really, how many bread crumbs does one really need? Since we made bread puddin' in class a few weeks ago, I thought I might try to find a recipe that was similar to the bread puddin' but a little less sweet and dessert-y. I searched online for something called strata which is technically a savory bread puddin' -- no sugar, no sweetness, just goodness.

I found a recipe from Smitten Kitchen (a great blog site if you have never been and I will include a link to the recipe at the end of the blog), modified it just a tad and had a very, very good breakfast this morning. The premise of the strata is to take cubed, stale bread and layer it in a baking pan with savory ingredients like spinach and cheese and then pour a mixture of milk, eggs, and a little mustard over top. You let it soak overnight and then bake it in a 350F oven until it is cooked through, about 55 minutes. I know it sounds like an effort to have to make the strata the night before and let it sit in the oven overnight but it actually makes things a lot easier, especially if you were having people over for brunch. Think about it, on the weekend, the last thing you want to do is slave over a hot stove. So do a little work the night before and then throw your pre-made breakfast in the oven the oven and enjoy.

Like I said, I will link you up with the actual recipe but I will tell you what I changed first. I added what the crazy Americans call Canadian bacon -- pre-coooked ham, and I didn't include the nutmeg because I didn't have any. I also just used the cheese that was in my fridge, white cheddar and pecorino instead of the gruyere and parm. I have to say that it turned out delicious and so if you don't have the cheeses at home that the recipes suggest, don't sweat it, just sub in something else. Another suggestion that I will give is for you to try and pre-cut and pre-grate all your ingredients before you start. I found that when I read the instructions, the recipe had expected for me to have already done my prep-work and be ready for the next step and so I found myself feeling behind. Other than that, I was tremendously happy and so was Collin Murray. I think he even ate it cold and liked it. Enjoy!


Yummy!


Yum yum yummy!

Here is the link to Smitten Kitchen