Cooking Central Hawke's Bay

New Zealanders throw away more than 1500 tonnes of bread a year.

According to the "Love Food Hate Waste" website, New Zealanders throw away more than 1500 tonnes of bread a year. Here are some ideas to use your stale bread.

Puddings have gone out of style a bit, but they're a great way to fill up hollow-legged teens without costing a small fortune. Even little children can make these with help.

Here's one that nearly everyone loves. If we ever took it off the menu in the restaurant, our customers complained bitterly. You can make a larger version in a roasting dish for a large group, or cut it (once cold) into serving-sized pieces, wrap each one and freeze. Keep in a container in the freezer for a quickly-heated-in-the-microwave dessert.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

Quantities depend on the size of the dish you are baking it in. You need three or four layers of bread and butter.

slices of stale bread

butter or margarine

sultanas, currants or both

sugar

milk

eggs

vanilla essence

Butter enough slices of stale bread to fit easily into your dish. Remove the crusts for visitors, though I think they're the best part.

Place the first layer butter side down in the dish. Sprinkle with dried fruit and a moderate amount of sugar. Fill the dish with layers of bread (butter side up), fruit, and sugar, finishing with bread and butter. Cut the top layer of bread into decorative shapes if you wish. Sprinkle with sugar.

Make a custard mixture with milk, eggs and vanilla, in the proportions of 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla to 600ml of milk. Pour carefully over the bread so as not to disturb the sugar, and leave to soak in. The custard should just cover the bread, so make up more of it and pour into the dish if you need to.

Sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg before baking, if you like it. Bake at 170 -180 degrees C until browned and firm.

Variation:- QUEEN PUDDING: Use 2 yolks and 2 whole eggs in 600ml milk for the custard. Retain two egg whites. Bake the pudding until it is firm, spread the top thinly with jam. Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff, then beat in 60gm white sugar to make a meringue. Spread over the pudding and bake until the meringue is a delicate milk-coffee colour.

You can also add spices, small pieces of chopped apple, apricot etc. to either pudding.

If you cut off the bread crusts, they can be carefully dried in the oven and crushed to make breadcrumbs for coating foods. Store in an airtight container.

Savoury Variation:-

CHEESEY BREAD BAKE

Butter bread pieces. Put four layers in a baking dish with grated cheese sprinkled on each layer. You can sprinkle the layers with chopped leftovers, finely chopped onions, tomatoes, drained corn, bacon bits, etc.

Make the custard, omitting the vanilla, but adding a teaspoon of dry mustard powder per 600ml milk and salt and pepper to taste. Soak, adjust the custard quantity, and bake as for the sweet version. Can be prepared to the prebaking stage and refrigerated, along with a salad. While it bakes, set the table and you're ready for a light family meal. Enjoy, followed by fresh fruit.

You can freeze individual portions.

Experiment ... bake individual portions, in the oven or in the microwave (in a cup). Vary the flavours.

CROUTONS

Butter leftover bread slices on both sides, then cut them into small dice. Bake them in the oven at about 180C while you're cooking other things, until they are crisp and golden. Sprinkle a few in soup when you serve it, or into a salad for a bit of extra crispness. They'll keep for a week or so in an airtight container, and are a tasty snack with a little flavoured salt sprinkled over.

GOOD OLD MOUSETRAPS

Feed the troops while they're watching the game on TV

Spread slices of bread with a thin layer of your favourite yeast extract or sauce and place them on a baking tray. Sprinkle a layer of grated cheese on the top (that dried-up left over end works just as well). You can put slices of tomato, pineapple, bacon, etc on top as well if you fancy something a little different.

Bake at 180-200C until the cheese is melted and the bread is crisp.