How to Repurpose Bread to make Dessert

 This week’s Guest Post is by Jim

 Jim loves to cook and has similar repurposing principles to myself

He is a ‘ Waste Not, Want Not ’ cook

 I hope you enjoy the read as much as I did,  Glenda

 

P.S. Yes, I did get to try “ The Pud “ – it was Awesome !

The Pud

A local charity conducts a Sausage Sizzle fundraiser every weekend at the entrance to our local hardware store.  It’s a symbiotic relationship;  the Do-It-Yourselfers entering the store are captivated by the aroma and linger a few extra minutes to have a cheap, tasty hot sausage served on a slice of bread with tomato sauce/ketchup and/or mustard/onions before sallying forth into hardware heaven, giving them time to peruse what’s on Special before entry.

 

Having observed the Sausage Slingers separating the end-crusts of each loaf, and putting them in a separate bag, I asked why they were doing that.  I was told that customers usually don’t want the end-crusts, so the Slingers take them home and freeze them for later use …. Hmmm, sounds legit.

 

One of the Slingers then told me that the collected end-crusts were made into puddings. Memory kicked in, and I remembered my Grandmother’s legendary baked custards and puddings – for a minute or so I was eight years old again.

 

Nan’s puddings and custards incorporated whatever was plentiful at the time; she’d been through two World Wars and a Depression, so she was firmly of the ‘Waste Not, Want Not’ persuasion. The bread puddings she made with orange peel were sublime… This was something I had to do!

Ingredients

 

Orange peels weren’t available, having earlier been repurposed (see previous post Don’t toss your Citrus Peel), so here’s what I used, in addition to 10 bread crusts:

 

Ingredients	Metric measure	Imperial measure
Full cream milk	300ml	Half pint
Eggs	350g	5 extra large
Chocolate essence	4mL	1/8 ounce
Coconut essence	4mL	1/8 ounce
Strawberry jam	180g	6 ounces
Caster sugar	60g	2 ounces
Butter	60g	2 ounces
Almond meal	60g	2 ounces

 

(Spoiler alert! – I’ve estimated that the cost of ingredients described above translates to about four dollars, not including the crusts, which were the original ‘waste’ product. Also, if like me you tend to be a tad heavy-handed with the essences, you could go as high as a 1/4 ounce of each without a problem; it won’t affect you costs by much, and should reduce the temptation to add more sugar.)

 

Method:

Preheat oven to 180° Celsius / 350° Fahrenheit

Spray-oil the inside of an 8-inch diameter oven-proof dish  (don’t be put off by my photo – that dish is almost as old as I am, and it’s seen a lot of service!

Into a tightly-sealable glass container (in my case an 200g/8-ounce Moccona jar) place the caster sugar, almond meal, both essences, the eggs, and the milk. Tightly grip the jar and lid, and shake vigorously until it is all mixed.  It should look like slightly foamy milk coffee.  (Bonus! It’s really easy to clean up – no moving parts…)

Butter the first three crusts liberally on the dark side and place butter side down into the dish. Trim them to fit so that the whole bottom is covered.  If they ‘climb’ the sides, that’s OK.

Spread about a third of the jam on these bottom crusts.  El Cheapo generic jam tends to work better than the brand-name stuff;  as long as the jam is not runny in the jar, it’ll be fine, although I wouldn’t trust low-sugar/artificially sweetened jam.  Apart from hating the taste, it’s useless in any application where you want a slight ‘glaze’ effect.

Butter and jam the remaining crusts as you would for a normal sandwich, and repeat the layering, trimming as necessary to fit.  Try to make the topmost layer as level as you can.

Give the mixture in the jar a brief shake, to make sure there are no lumpy bits, and slowly pour the mixture over the bread.  It can be helpful to use a dessertspoon to assist in directing the flow toward the edges; no nasty dry bits after cooking, and less chance of your bench getting flooded!  Try to make sure that the mixture is as evenly distributed as possible.

Put it into the centre shelf of your oven and bake approx 30 minutes.  This pudding will be fairly dry, due to the bread taking up the mixture, so if you think it looks ready at 25 minutes, it probably is.  This is a fairly low-sugar recipe; remember, the more sugar you put in, the darker your end-product will be.

It serves 8, hot or cold, with or without accompaniment.  My preference is cold, with a little rich chocolate ice-cream  (when the wife’s not looking).

Ooohhh… there’s an idea…

If any of you are tempted to grate up some really dark 70%+ chocolate to sprinkle over each jam layer before baking, let me know how you go  (I’ve been barred from the Confectionery aisle until after New Year).

Next issue, we’ll look at how the Designated Driver can have really good-tasting drinks without even a suggestion of breath-alcohol, at a minute fraction of regular drink prices.

Happy  Eating!

Jim

About Growing Snowballs

I have been described as Savvy; a Bargain Hunter and Tight. My fav is Value Shopper. I love a bargain to save money. I do this in-store, online, buying 2nd hand, recycling & upcycling. This is good for my pocket & good for this Planet. Check out some of my quirky projects as well as read about how you too can save yourself some money & time.

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Tagged with: #upcycle, bread, budget, cheap, dessert, DIY, economical, frugal, homemade, recycle, repurpose, savemoney, second life
Posted in food, Repurpose, saving money