So, I baked bread...Now what?

Saturday I baked two loaves of honey white bread. I think they came out great for my first real attempt at making bread! But then... What do you do with two loaves of bread? We had some with Nutella, some with cheese, and some with butter. That was maybe 2/3 of one loaf. What to do the next day (or days 3 and 4)? Here's what I came up with for bread once it starts to get a bit stale.


Day 2 Recipe - Monte Cristo

Ingredients for 4 sandwiches:

8 slices of bread

8 slices turkey breast

8 slices ham

8 slices cheddar cheese

2 eggs

2 tablespoons butter

a few tablespoons of heavy cream

pinch of granulated sugar

powdered sugar for dusting

raspberry jam (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Place butter in large pan (that can be placed in the oven) to melt. Mix together eggs, heavy cream, and granulated sugar. Assemble each sandwich with 2 slices of turkey, 2 slices of ham, and 2 slices of cheese (make sure the cheese is closest to the bread on both sides). Dip entire sandwich in egg-cream mixture, and place sandwich in large pan. Repeat to assemble all 4 sandwiches. Cook sandwiches on both sides until lightly browned. Place entire pan in the oven so sandwiches cook through (just a few minutes). Cut sandwiches in half, dust with powdered sugar, and serve with raspberry jam for dipping. Delicious!

Day 4 Recipe - Grilled Vegetable Panzanella

Ingredients for 2 servings:

1 ball quality mozzarella cheese

1 zucchini

3 tomatoes (each about the size of a baseball)

1/2 large red onion

4 - 6 thick slices of stale bread

1/2 cup olive oil 

6 cloves of garlic, crushed

about a dozen of your favorite olives, pitted

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

fresh basil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cube bread. Mix together 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss croutons in the mixture and spread out on a baking sheet. Place in the oven until toasted and crunchy (toss once mid-cooking). Cut zucchini, tomatoes, and red onion into large chunks and toss with remaining olive oil, remaining garlic, salt, and pepper. Place vegetables on a grill pan. Cook until both sides have nice grill marks. Cube mozzarella cheese. Cut olives in half. Toss together bread, cheese, olives, grilled vegetables, and torn fresh basil. Toss with balsamic vinegar (and additional olive oil if needed).

Two simple and delicious ideas for stale bread. Now it may be time for me to experiment with some other bread recipes.