Discovering that your loaf of bread has gone stale can be a serious bummer. Even the best laid meal plans can fall through, so the next time you find yourself with bread that's seen fresher days, don't panic. Although your initial reaction might be to toss it, there are plenty of ways to avoid having to throw it away.
French toast is a great go-to option, but if you want something on the savory spectrum, try making panzanella salad instead. Panzanella salad is a tasty Italian dish that's traditionally made with dried bread, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, basil, and a simple vinaigrette. The bread serves as more than just a crouton, as it's one of the core components of the dish.
Since it absorbs moisture from the tomatoes and the dressing, using bread that's a little dry and stale is actually ideal as it helps prevent the dish from being too soggy. History of panzanella salad Panzanella salad originally hails from Tuscany and dates back at least to the 16th century. At the time, the dish was made with onions but no tomatoes, since the latter wasn't yet available in Italy.
The name is a combination of the Italian words for bread (pane) and a soup bowl (zanella). Like many traditional dishes, panzanella salad was created by peasants as a way to prevent food waste. Traditional Tuscan bread is made without salt, which causes it to go stale faster, and panzanella salad was (and still is!) the perfect way to turn bread that would otherwise be too tough and chewy into something deli.