Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-05-07
MANY USES FOR
STALE BREAD
Most Common Article of
Waste, Yet 1t Can Be Made
Into Toothsome Delicacies

Into ToothSome Delicacies
Washington, d. c.. May 4.-Bread
Is one of the items most commonly
wasted in many American house
holds. say the specialists of the u.
S. Department of Agriculture. This
waste is probably due to the fact
that many housekeepers do not think
of bread as costing much and are
careless about its use or do not
know what to do with the odds and
ends frequently found in the bread
box.
Good, fresh bread has a spongy
texture which in time disappears,
leaving the bread dry and crumbly,
the moisture gradually passing out
through the crust. Bread little too
stale to be -appetizing, but not yet
hard, may be freshened by putting
1t into the over for a few
minutes. The heat seems to drive
the moisture from the crust back
into the center of the loaf, making
the crust more crisp and the crumb a
little more spongy. Some housekeep-
ers moisten the surface of the bread
and sometimes cover it before put
ting it into the oven, but others
think that moistening Injuries the
texture of the crust without improv-
ing the crumb.
Rolls or biscuits which have a
greater surface in proportion to their
size. dry out more rapidly than loaves
of bread. 1t is good planning, there
fore, not to provide more than will
be used at a meal or at least a day
after baking. For similar reasons,
bread stays fresh longer in the loaf
than after it is sliced. No more than
will be needed should be cut for any
one meal and one loaf should be used
up before the next is cut into. When
the bread needs freshening it is a
good plan to cut the required slices
and put them into the oven for a few
minutes just before serving.
Toast
Toast is another form in which
partly stale bread can be made at
tractiye. In many families it is
served only for breakfast, luncheon
or supper, but the custom which
many high grade restaurants have
adopted of serving thin, crisp, hot
toast with the more substantial
meals, might well be followed at
home. Such dishes as chopped meat
with gravy, creamed chicken or fish,
poached eggs, melted cheese, cook
ed asparagus, Swiss chard, baked to-
matOeS, etc, are served very COM
monty on toast. Cream or milk toast
Chat is, toast with a cream sauce
or milk gravy, perhaps Favored with
a very little Clipped beef, salt fish,
or other sayory) may be used as the
main dish at breakfast, luncheon or
supper Slices of toast may also be
dipped in water or milk and beaten
egg, and lightly Drowned on a hot
creased pan. The receipt for this
dish. which is called by various
names, is given in the appended re-
ceipts under the heading Egg Toast"
1t may be used at breakfast, and has
the advantage of making the eggs
go further" than if used in a sep
arate dish, or it may be served with
cinnamon and sugar, syrup or any
sweet sauce for dessert.
As Il Breakfast Food
Another good way of using stale
bread or of treating bread so that
II shall not become stale, is to put
the pieces in the warming oven or
on the back of the stove and leave
them until they are crisp and a deli
cate brown throughout. This is often
called twice baked bread and is very
popular with children and also with
grown-ups who like its "crunchiness'
and the flavor which comes with the
slight browning. The ruskS which
used to be commonly served like
breakfast cereals in some parts of
the country were made by crushing
such twiCe-baked bread with a roll
ing pin.
Crumbs Valuable in Cookery
There is nothing new in the idea
of using bread crumbs. in cookery
and most housekeepers are in the
habit of having some on hand for
use in scalloped dishes. stuffing for
meat, puddings, etc. Few realize,
however how much more generally
they might be utilized. Many COM
mercial bakers use bread crumbs to
some extent as a substitute for the
flour in many sorts of cakes, cookies,
puddings. etc. Crumbs may also be
used instead of -four and starch for
thickening soups and sauces.
Any bits of bread which cannot
he eaten on the table should be
saved and crumbed for use in cook
ing. Some housekeepers keep two
kinds on hand; one. stale crumbs
made chiefly from the inside of the
loaf and suitable for use in the place
of -four and dried crumbs made
from any part of the bread Drowned
little in a very slow oven and
crushed fine to be used in scalloped
dishes, for the coating of crouquettes
or other fried foods, or wherever "a
crusty, fine crumb is needed. To pre-
vent their growing musty, crumbs
should be kept in dry, air-tight con-
tainers. Fruit jars are often conven-
lent for the purpose.
How to Utilize Quick Breads
Neast-made bread is by no means
the only bread that can be utilized
in some of the ways suggested. The
quick breads raised by baking pow
der, soda and sour milk or other
acid, etc, dry out more quickly than
the yeast bread, probably because the
water is not so thoroughly incorpo-
rated with the flour during the ma
king. These breads can not be fresh
ened simply by putting in the oven
like yeast-raised bread. Quick bis
cult, however make delicious toast
which is very convenient for serv-
ing under meats, eggs, etc. The
crumbs made from them may also
be used in other breads, cakes and
puddings, as may also corn bread
and cake crumbs wherever their fla
Vor is not Objectionable. Boston
brown bread toasted and served
with a cream sauce is a delicious
dish for supper or breakfast. Toast
ed rye bread is also good. Crackers,
which are practically dried bread
baked in different shapes, and which
may lose their crispness if kept ex-
posed when the air is moist, can be
freshened or made crisp by putting
into the oven. The crumbs made |
them serve many of the purposes
of dried bread crumbs. A number of
q