Pain perdu: How the world uses up a loaf of day-old bread

We all know the old adage: necessity is the mother of invention.

I'm going to be so bold as to suggest that nowhere is this adage more true than in the evolution of a culture's cuisine. Everywhere in the world people were confronted by either an abundance of certain ingredients, a shortage, a season, or complete absence of something else. This would render certain dishes more highly prized than others. If something was rare or had a short season of availability, it became a delicacy. Likewise, something that was readily available all year long became a staple. And then there were the seasons.

In northern countries with shorter growing seasons, preserving the summer's bounty became paramount, and a matter of survival. So, we see drying, curing and smoking figuring prominently in cultures with very definite seasons and without means of refrigeration.

In other parts of the world, Asia and Japan, we see fermentation—kim chi, black bean paste, miso—as the preservation method of choice.

Now here's another old adage: waste not, want not. Not letting anything go to waste—from animal bones to stale bread—was another key strategy in a people's survival, and therefore woven into the cuisine. Beyond croutons and crumbs, many cultures have a revered dish made from stale bread, from soup to salad to pudding. Yesterday's baguette or pita isn't just for the birds!


Stale bread delicacies around the world
Middle Eastern countries and the Mediterranean have fattoush (image, left). This is a salad made from day old pita bread. Cut into bite-size pieces, the pita is then either baked or fried in olive oil to a crispy golden brown. What the cook tosses with the pita varies by region and availability of produce: tomato, cucumber, lettuce, onion, mint, all in a simple vinaigrette of lemon, olive oil and sumac.


The Tuscans also have a bread salad: panzanella. A simple summer assemblage of fresh tomatoes, basil, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, it comes in two versions: soft or crunchy. Some recipes call for baked cubes of stale bread, essentially croutons, while others call for bread that has been soaked in water and squeezed-out. Either way, this rustic dish is summer in a bowl. The Italians seem to have a greater appreciation for day-old bread, and instead of using the term stale, which implies, not good anymore, they have another term: pane raffermo. It simply means bread that has become more firm. Try our Tuscan Bean and Escarole Soup with Parmesan Croutons recipe to use up your pane raffermo.

In nearby Greece, dakos (image, left) is a dish that is somewhere between bruschetta and bread salad. Slices of stale country loaf are brushed with olive oil and grilled. Feta cheese, kalamata olives, tomato, cucumber, onion, basil, and dill are tossed in a vinaigrette of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper. This mixture is then poured over the grilled bread.

Page 1 of 2