One of the challenges for a single diner is what to do with an entire loaf of bread. I'm not talking about the pre-sliced, sandwich-style bread that lends itself to being divided up and frozen and then defrosted when needed. That's a simple problem with an obvious solution. What I'm talking about here is a nice crusty loaf, the kind that you go out of your way to purchase from the bakery with the wood-fired oven.
What people used to call artisanal until the marketing people at Kraft took over the term. Bread that is usually large in size and flavor but short on shelf life and so delicious that you buy it even when you're sure you'll never be able to eat the whole thing.
The challenge of a great loaf of crusty bread in a single person's kitchen is that you will never finish the loaf on your own in one or two days. Sure you can freeze half of it but my experience is that artisanal bread really isn't as good after that, even if you 'refresh' it in the oven. Still, it's an option, I suppose.
What I've learned to do is to appreciate the bread in all its stages. The first day or two are indeed perfection, with the crust crispy and crackling, and the crumb tender and moist. But after that, you have to go with a steady decrease in quality and adjust your expectations. On days two and three, it's still pretty good for sandwiches, especially if you've stored it properly. Days four and five are for grilled cheese and toast. Beyond that, if there's any left, it's pretty much bread crumbs, croutons, bread salad, etc.
What's challenging about this plan is that I end up eating a lot of bread, sometimes more than I want to. When I have a nice loaf of bread in the house, and I've paid good money for it, I feel obliged to use it up. This becomes impossible to maintain week in and week out, so while good bread is a priority for me, I don't always have it on hand.
How do you manage when you're alone in the kitchen with a loaf of really good bread?
Related: Bread Bag by Stelton
(Image: Dana Velden)
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I've run into the same dilemma- I love good, crusty, fresh bread, but I'm only one person and one can only eat so much bread! I have gone halvsies with another single friend before - that works out very well! The other thing is, once I get breaded out, i.e. I'm at the sandwich/ toast phase you describe above and I'm feeling like I'm eating too much bread but there is still a bunch left - I pop it in the freezer. No, it's not going to defrost and magically taste fresh out of the oven, but then I can pull it out and make small batches of croutons or bread crumbs as needed, or cube it up and make bread pudding. It helps extend the life of the bread and keeps me from eating it all at once.
Not sure whether this is a European/German thing, but sometimes bakeries also let you purchase half a loaf. This way you get still a nice, artisanal bread without the pressure of having to finish it all by yourself or having too much in the freezer.
I wish I had this problem. Thus the reason I don't buy bread often. I will eat it for all meals by itself until gone. And snacks. And grazing. I love bread!
I buy Acme in San Francisco, and I buy it direct from their storefront, so I've learned to ask which rolls use my favorite dough and buy a few of those instead of an entire loaf. It's enough for a couple days, without the depreciation in quality, so I'm not eating bread daily anymore but since I'm a bread addict my figure's thanking me for now seeing bread as a treat rather than a daily food.
If you're eventually going to use it for toast, I think slicing it and freezing it provides better quality than toasting stale slices.
Otherwise, I quite agree about adjusting expectations. I worked at a bakery once and some of our customers were just dumbfounded that the bread wasn't just as fresh after a couple days. They would ask me how to keep it fresh for five days and, after giving storage recommendations, I would tell them that it will still start getting stale and that's just the nature of bread. Most learned to appreciate it, a few became indignant after a few purchases of 'wasting their money' on leaves that didn't last and went back to wonderbread. Because, you know, that totally tastes as good as a freshly baked loaf for an entire week...
I love making bread pudding with whatever leftovers are around, and it's also great for a couple days toasted for crostini, like this one with burrata and tomatoes or this one with mushrooms. I will then use leftovers to make breadcrumbs for meatballs like these chicken meatballs or tuna meatballs or traditional meatballs and spaghetti.
I tend to go the freezing route too - albeit after usually eating half a fresh loaf thick with butter!
It's not perfect, but (after freezing), I find a loaf usually lends itself okay to your day four and five suggestions!
I almost always freezer our bread - we have a household of two and working through a loaf of bread can be challenging.
The easiest way is to pre-slice the loaf and freeze it, wrapped in foil then in a plastic or bread bag. You can easily take just the slices you want and thaw them as needed or put them wrapped in foil in the oven (about 20 minutes at 350-400 degrees depending on the amount and type of bread) and it's good as new.
I think it's a two prong dilemma first... the stale bread and two how to not end up eating a whole loaf so quickly. I think the buying rolls instead idea is great.. And I also think since you know you will end up making toast/breadpudding/bread crumbs out of it, why not just freeze half right away.. Then when you are ready for the "happy endings" things you can enjoy those with a longer time between them.
Just my thought.. I live in a situation where we are more likely to run out of bread then have too much.
I would definitely ask them for a 1/2 loaf--doesn't hurt to try. I'm lucky here--the bakery I go to sells what they call "short skinnies" which is a very small, enough for two for dinner, baguette.
suprised no one has said french toast yet.
I just had a half a loaf of leftover sourdough that my friend had made, and we were going out of town. I couldn't let it go to waste, so I made it into a lovely one-bowl meal of roasted cauliflower & potatoes, sauteed greens & zucchini & tomatoes, and big cubes of bread lightly fried in olive oil. All mixed together with some chard/pecan/golden raisin pesto. It was such a satisfying combination of textures and flavors.
You can also use stale bread to make romesco sauce, or a nutty tarator sauce. I used leftover whole-grain bread and pecans to make this one. But pine nuts and regular baguette or country bread is probably more traditional.
I'm with the slice-and-freeze camp. I put my bread in freezer zip bags, and when I make a sandwich with the frozen bread, it's nicely thawed (and fresh-textured) by the time I get to work.
I'm going to second what a commenter above said: if you know you'll end up freezing some of the bread, do it immediately, right after you purchase the loaf. Don't even wait for one day! You will notice much better results than if you freeze bread that has already been sitting out for a bit.
Um, yeah, I never have this problem. I guess it's because there are TWO of us at home, but we always finish the loaf of bread, even though it's WAY more bread than we really should be eating in one day. But it's sooooooo gooooooood
How about pappa al pomodoro or ribollita?
Even when I was single I couldn't grasp the concept of "too much bread."
My husband and I love a good loaf of fresh bread and whenever we buy we savor the first few slices right after purchase and end up freezing it within a day or two. I use a double freezer bread and have it pre-sliced. Freezing is better for heartier loaves like a whole wheat or multigrain vs something like a baquette.
This method works best for sandwiches, toast, french toast or croutons. If it's not gone within a month, it's unfortunately history.
Our eyes are usually bigger than our freezer because whenever we pass the bakery, whether we need or not, we can't resist buying another loaf!
Ha ha - this reminds me of the leftover wine problem. What leftover wine?
Seriously, though, I often split loaves with friends who also live alone or in small households. Some of my neighbors and I also go in together on a few pantry staples and household items that are more economical to buy in bulk but less than practical to consume by a single person or store in a small apartment: rice, dried beans, dry cat food, litter, toilet paper.
This is the story of my life! I love bread, and I often devour a seeded baguette in one sitting because I know it won't be good the next day. I can buy a quarter loaf of levain at the Castro farmers' market, which still takes me several days to finish. (I like my bread really "bien cuit," which the larger loaves tend to be.) When it gets stale, I get out my grill pan, cut thick slices, brush them with olive oil and grill them. Brings out the flavor much better than toasting! If I'm having something savory, I'll rub them with a cut garlic clove when they're done. If I still have bread left, I whiz it in the blender to make large crumbs and freeze them--then I can use exactly what I need to toast and toss with pasta.
I usually put whatever is left of a loaf I bought that day into a ziploc bag to keep it as air tight as possible (got this idea from my grandmother, who actually uses one of those airlock vacuum things). And then, if the bread isn't miraculously gone (read: I ate the rest) by the end of the next day, I'll use it for bruschetta or some other lunch-y food, or slice it up and bake it 10 minutes to make it soft enough to go with wine and cheese in front of the tv. But yes, I'm single, and I can finish a whole loaf in 2-3 days.
Share with a neighbor! Or make sandwiches and hand out to homeless folks.
Maybe you have a neighbour or co-worker who is single too? Buy one together, half it. Or why not freeze half of it? A good bread should be no problem to freeze.
I think John Thorne has written quite a bit on this topic, or someone similar. Many of the heartier loaves have a lifecycle that has pleasures at all stages. There are lots of recipes, many of which have been mentioned by other commenters, which take advantage of each stage. I often intentionally purchase bread that I know will go into strata, for example. Stale bread can thicken soups and sauces, become the basis of a bread salad or pudding, become croutons or melba toasts or French toast or bruschetta or any number of amazing things. And if that doesn’t get me to the end of the loaf, I like to feed it to the ducks.
I order from a CSA and adjust my bread order each week--mostly I buy a loaf every two weeks. This is such good bread (no sugar and only naturally occuring yeast) that even in its second week it has integrity in breakfast toast, panzanella, croutons or crostini. Finally, anything that I still have when the two weeks are up gets whizzed into breadcrumbs.
Panzanella, people, panzanella!!
I agree with the idea of pre-slicing fresh bread and putting the slices in the freezer. Works fine for me.
I need to get into making bread pudding! Every time I get down toward the end of a days-old loaf, I think about it... but haven't done it yet.
Over the winter holidays, I made turkey and sausage gumbo (recipe from Cooking Up a Storm, favorite recipes gathered up post-Katrina) and made a point of putting a drier bread slice or chunks in the bottom of the serving bowls, where they could soften up by soaking up some of the yummy gumbo. It added a nice additional layer of chewiness to the dish (especially if I didn't add more rice to the dish) and was a good way to use up the bread.
Frozen bread?! I'd rather enjoy the fresh bread and share the rest with family, people at work, or birds than freezing something so delectable. Bakers (i.e., artists) wake up in the wee hours to provide us with something magical to savor at it's best. Relish the simple good things in life and share the bounty!
Make French toast! If you have tons still left over, freeze it. It reheats very well in the microwave (or a toaster, if you slice it thinly enough).
Have you tried buying or baking sourdough? Sourdough typically lasts for a week or even more on the shelf. I bake it myself as I can't see my way around spending $10 on a loaf of bread that I can bake at home for $0.67.