Last week I lamented the horrible state of my house. In addition to having lost my Housekeeping Mojo, I hadn’t been to the store and we were low on all sorts of groceries, especially bread.
What is it about the heels on a loaf of bread? (Or as they are sometimes referred to here: the butts.) No one will eat them, not even for toast.
You know what I do with all of those bread butts…?
I make bread crumbs. (I even throw in crackers when some of the people in this house don’t close up the box properly.)
Toss in the crackers into a food processor, along with the heels of bread….
Pulse until you have crumbs.
I store them in a bag, in the freezer. You can toast them on a cookie sheet in a low temperature oven if you want, but I rarely end up doing that.
Someone suggested that you can make bread pudding out of them too, and I may have to give that a try. Anyone have a good bread pudding recipe to share?
***Updated: Suzan, who writes My Little Nest and The Reluctant Quilter shared this bread pudding recipe in the comments: Best bread pudding ever! 5 c. bread cubes, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 3 eggs, 3 c. hot water, 2 T. melted butter, 2 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp of cinnamon. Cut up bread and place in a buttered casserole dish. In a large bowl whisk the rest of the ingredients. Pour over the bread cubes and let the bread absorb. Bake at 35o for 50 to 55 min. If the top starts getting dark, throw a piece of foil over it. Done when a knife in center comes out damp but not sloggy! 
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Best bread pudding ever! 5 c. bread cubes, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 3 eggs, 3 c. hot water, 2 T. melted butter, 2 tesp. vanilla. Cut up bread and place in a buttered casserole dish. In a large bowl whisk the rest of the ingredients. Pour over the bread cubes and let the bread absorb. Bake at 35o for 50 to 55 min. If the top starts getting dark, throw a piece of foil over it. Done when a knife in center comes out damp but not sloggy!
Oh my gosh, that is so smart!!! When ever I need bread crumbs I take a couple out of the loaf…and then at some point in the near future, throw away the heels!!! Never, ever occurred to me to do this…and you know what? I don’t care cuz _you do_ think of this stuff and share it!!! Thank you!!! 🙂
p.s. You should write a book!! 🙂
What!!!! I never thought of adding stale crackers!
MacGyver has an excellent bread pudding recipe. I don’t know it. I know that helps…
This is a good idea. I usually end up needing breadcrumbs then resorting to baking some bread and crushing it up by hand. It seriously never occurs to me to use kitchen appliances, which MacGyver always makes fun of me for.
I make grilled cheese with the heels. I put the end pieces together with the cheese and no one knows the difference!
we get the italian bread slices so we actually like the “butts”, but I love this idea. Now I really want bread pudding.
Duh! Why did I not think of doing that with the butts- we always just throw them away eventually.
I make the bread crumbs, but it never occurred to me throw in the crackers too. Great idea. When I take them out of the freezer to use them, I throw them in a pan with some butter and toast until golden brown, then eat a few spoonfuls before it goes on whatever I was using it for…..This could also be called “Extra waist not want not”.
Do I need to fly out and do an intervention…low on bread??? I’m concerned 😉 We always have the heels leftover, but luckily Rondell is not picking and will eat them. Or I’ll turn it over to make Caleb’s grilled cheese (I haven’t been busted yet). Bread crumbs is a wonderful idea though…thanks! Happy Valentine’s Day.
Ohmygosh, I’m shocked to hear that not everyone fights over the heels like my family did. When we were growing up my Mom would bake bread and since we were a big family it was usually about 10-15 loaves at a time. We would sneak around waiting for the bread to come out of the oven for a big chunk of the “skorka” (Polish for “tip”). Usually my Dad claimed first in line! Nothing like warm homebaked bread with the butter melting on top! Nowadays, if it’s leftover store bought bread I usually bake parmesan croutons. But I might try the bread crumbs. Thanks.