A Use for Stale Bread

If you make whole wheat bread, you know how it is. The heels of the bread are marvelous when the bread is very fresh, but after that, no one wants to eat them. So, they sit in the bread bag until the bread ends up in the refrigerator so it won't get moldy. Of course, the stale bread makes marvelous toast at that point, but only the most intrepid will willingly choose the stale heels of bread. So, they sit there, making one feel guilty. To compost or what? Here is my solution. I've been making "Bread Pudding" since our children were all young and still living at home. It is delicious, warm with milk or cream, or even after it's been chilled, it is still good. It can be re-heated, of course.

Here are 3 whole wheat bread heels and 2 other stale slice rescued from the refrigerator:



Break the bread into little pieces into a square baking dish:



In the blender, mix 3 cups goat milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 cup Sucanat, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 3 eggs. (You may, of course, use any milk you like and other sugars, as well as other breads.)



Pour this mixture over the bread and let it sit soaking during the time you are pre-heating the oven to 325 degrees F. Set the baking dish inside another baking dish that has water in it like this:



Bake until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. We started eating it before I could take a proper picture of it when it was done!