The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

what to do with the experiments

mike owens's picture
mike owens

what to do with the experiments

so i made two loaves of sourdough that didn't work out. i think i know what went wrong but my question is does anyone have ideas for using the loves in other ways other than choking them down since i'd rather just make a another more edible loaf.  i did see someone once with some dough for rolls that didn't work out and she mixed it with some eggs, milk, green chilli's, and who know what else.  i never got to taste it but it sure smelled good and seemed clever.  anyone else have ideas on that line?  thanks, mike

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

:)    And if all else fails...   cut into quarters and dry the bread.  Various animals like it and it burns like wood.  If you dry it in slices, it can be made into "french toast" at any time.  Fish love dried bread, ducks, pigs, goats, deer and even the local zoo.   Mice love gnawing their way thru and making tunnels.  I keep some dried squares around because my dog loves sourdough snacks.   If you grate the dried bread, you got high quality bread crumbs which can be used for coatings, altus, dusting pans, browning in butter and adding to wet fruit pies or simply rolling boiled vegetables to coat.   

pjaj's picture
pjaj

Another way of making breadcrumbs is to freeze the bread and grate it whilst still frozen. I use a food processor with a grating disk.

richkaimd's picture
richkaimd

Tell us what you mean by "didn't work out."   My mistakes with sourdough, over the years, have been many, fortunately fewer over time.  What can be learned from yours?  My first mistakes were like bricks.  No rising.  Is that what happened to you?   In the meantime, I cannot make suggestions without knowing what your failed product is like.

mike owens's picture
mike owens

i was kind of winging it. started with starter and water in the bottom of mixer bowl and i put too much flour in all at once so it really clumped up. i added enough water to get a better texture but the finnished crumb is really tough. i also followed some bad oven temp advice (500 for 45min) and it got a little burned - not such a big deal since it shaves right off but still very tough. edible, but tough. thanks for the thoughts and interest. mike

PaddyL's picture
PaddyL

I give failed bread to the birds; simply cut the loaves or rolls up and scatter them in the park and they're usually gone within minutes.  Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the gulls and pigeons, I don't have many failures.

breadforfun's picture
breadforfun

If the bread tastes ok, I would dry it out a bit and use it in a Tuscan bread soup, such as this: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/health/nutrition/18recipehealth.html .  It's delicious and becomes a meal in itself.

mike owens's picture
mike owens

that sound amazingly good - like it would be worth ruining some bread on purpose.  i am definitely doing this, thank you. mike

breadforfun's picture
breadforfun

Mike,

I have made the bread soup before and it's really good. It's as close a recipe to one that I tasted in Italy several years ago.  The only other thing I did was to use an immersion blender to puree the soup a bit.

Another thought I had is a different Italian soup, ribolita.  It is a rich-stock soup with either cabbage or kale (dino kale, also called cavolo nero or lacinato, is traditional).  A piece of stale bread is placed in the bowl and the soup is ladled on top.  Sorry I don't have a reference to a recipe.

And if all else fails, make breadcrumbs.

Brad

cgmeyer2's picture
cgmeyer2

i make french toast out of stale sourdough bread. my husband loves it.

take care, claudia