Don't Throw It Out! Five Uses for Stale Gluten-Free Bread

Bread Pudding

If you've never had bread pudding, you should try it. It's a wonderful comfort food, especially for celiacs who are feeling bread-deprived. (Personally, I like it best with stale raisin bread.)

Tuscan Bread Salad

Most recipes for Tuscan Bread Salad (also known as Panzanella) require that the stale bread be soaked in water, which would not work well with gluten-free breads. Annie's Naturals, however, has posted a recipe for Tuscan Bread Salad that doesn't require that the bread be soaked.

Also, the New York Times published a recipe for using up stale corn bread that it describes as "a Texas twist on Tuscan Bread Salad."

Stuffing

Stale or leftover cornbread works particularly well in stuffings. Many recipes for cornbread stuffing are available on the internet, including one for Southern Cornbread Stuffing from the Celiac Sprue Association.

Croutons

Dice stale bread into large cubes, and either spray with cooking spray or coat lightly with extra-virgin olive oil (don't saturate it). Toast the bread in the oven until it is dry and golden (about 15 minutes at 350 degrees F). If you wish, toss the croutons with garlic powder, Italian spices, or cayenne pepper as soon as you take them out of the oven.

Breadcrumbs

Crumble the stale bread onto a cookie sheet and toast the crumbs in a 200 degree F oven for about an hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Let stand in the oven until cool or overnight. If you want very fine crumbs, process them in your food processor or blender. Store leftover crumbs in the freezer.