Cooking with Leftover Bread and Cheese

The case for the end of the loaf

Every British kitchen has them: the heel of a sourdough gone leathery by Tuesday, a quarter of a Cheddar sweating in its paper, a stub of Stilton that nobody will confess to opening. Throwing them out is not just wasteful — it is a culinary loss, because stale bread and odds of cheese are two of the most useful ingredients in the kitchen. Stale bread has lost its water, not its flavour, which means it drinks up stock, cream, butter and fat like a sponge. Cheese ends are salt, umami and body in a single lump. Together they make puddings, soups, croutons and toasties that you would happily pay for.

First, rescue the loaf

Before you cook, decide what kind of stale you have. Bread that is a day old and merely firm is perfect for toasting, frying and puddings. Bread that is rock-hard needs liquid or a grater. Anything with a spot of blue mould should go — but a dry, clean loaf keeps for a week in a paper bag and far longer sliced in the freezer.

• Croutons: cube firm bread, toss with olive oil, salt and a crushed garlic clove, then bake at 180°C fan for 10–12 minutes until golden. Cool completely before storing in a jar, or they steam and soften.
• Breadcrumbs: blitz stale bread in a processor, spread on a tray and dry in a low oven (about 120°C fan) for 20 minutes. Freeze in bags; they will keep for months and are far better than the orange dust in a tub.
• Fried bread: thick slices fried slowly in beef dripping or olive oil until crisp make an outstanding base for a poached egg or a bowl of soup.

Savoury puddings that earn their place

Savoury bread pudding is the great workhorse of the leftover kitchen. Butter a shallow dish, layer sliced stale bread with grated cheese, a little mustard powder, fried onions or leeks, and any herbs you have. Beat four eggs with 400ml milk, or half milk and half stock, season well, pour over and let it stand for 20 minutes so the bread soaks. Bake at 170°C fan for 35–40 minutes until puffed and set at the centre. It slices neatly once rested.

For something closer to a rarebit pudding, use ale instead of some of the milk and finish with a handful of strong Cheddar under the grill. A spoonful of chutney or a sharp dressed salad cuts the richness — this is not delicate food, and it should not pretend to be.

Soups that thicken themselves

Stale bread is a classic thickener in Mediterranean cooking, and it costs nothing. A handful torn into a pan of softened onion, garlic, tomato and stock will break down into a silky, substantial soup in 20 minutes. If you have a rind of hard grating cheese, drop it in with the stock and fish it out before serving — it gives a deep savoury note that no stock cube can match.

Tuscan ribollita is the model: beans, kale or cabbage, tinned tomatoes, a lot of olive oil and torn stale bread stirred in at the end. Finish with a swirl of good oil and grated cheese. If your bread is especially hard, soak it in a little stock first so it melts into the pot rather than sitting in lumps.

Toasties, rarebits and the cheese drawer

The toastie is where odd bits of cheese make the most sense. Grate everything and mix: Cheddar for melt, Lancashire for creaminess, a little Stilton or Wensleydale for edge. A teaspoon of mustard, a grated garlic clove or a spoon of pickle folded through the mixture lifts it out of the ordinary.

• Proper method: butter the outside of the bread, not the inside. Medium heat, a heavy pan, and a weight on top. Turn once. Five to six minutes in total gives you molten cheese and a crisp, even crust.
• Rarebit: melt 200g grated cheese with 50g butter, 2 tablespoons ale and 1 teaspoon mustard, whisking until glossy. Pour over thick toast and grill until blistered.
• Save the rinds: hard cheese rinds keep for months in the freezer and belong in soups, stews and a pot of beans.

Storing the odds and ends properly

A little discipline makes all of this easier. Keep a bag in the freezer for bread ends — when it is full, make a pudding. Keep a tub for cheese odds, grated and mixed; it thaws in minutes and is ready for toasties, pasta bakes or a cheese sauce. Wrap hard cheese in paper rather than cling film, and keep it in the warmest part of the fridge, not the coldest. Soft cheese should be eaten within days, but blues and hard cheeses will happily wait.

Labelled properly, these scraps stop being leftovers and become the beginning of the next meal. That is, after all, what a good deli counter has always understood: that the best cooking often begins with what is already in the kitchen.