French Toast from Stale Bread or Baguette

Hi! It's Yoko, home cook.

This post is for anyone with a stale baguette or loaf of bread in front of them

and no idea what to do with it.

I'll share my recipe for crisp-outside, fluffy-inside French toast!

I'll also cover other ways to use hard bread and the syrup I use all the time and highly recommend, so check it out!

How Long Baguettes Last and How to Store Them

First, let's check how long a baguette keeps and how to store it.

The short answer: a baguette is best within one day! If you want to keep it longer, put it in the freezer.

Baguettes are crisper than regular bread, right?

A baguette is made with low-protein flour (semi-strong flour).

There's no sugar or butter, the moisture content is low, and it has no ability to hold moisture.

So basically, eat it as soon as you buy it!

Slice whatever you can't finish to your preferred thickness, wrap it in plastic wrap, put it in a bag, and freeze it. It turns whitish when exposed to air, so wrap it well!

If you store it somewhere it isn't exposed to air often, it will keep for about a month.

Crisp and Fluffy French Toast

Ingredients (serves 2)

Baguette	6 slices (3 cm thick)
Milk	1 cup
Eggs	2
Agave syrup (sugar works too)	1 tbsp
Butter	2 tbsp

Directions

1. Beat the eggs well, then add the milk and agave syrup and mix well. Lay the bread in a shallow tray and soak both sides thoroughly, then cover with plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge overnight.

2. When you wake up, flip the bread over so the other side soaks well too. (Prepare the rest of breakfast while it soaks.)

3. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and cook the bread until the surface is golden brown and crisp.

Can't wait overnight? Save time with the microwave!

This is a bit of a trick, but if you need French toast in a hurry, use the microwave!

Soak both sides of the bread well in the egg mixture, put it on a heatproof plate, and cover with plastic wrap.

Microwave at 500W for about 1 minute (a few dozen seconds per side) and the bread absorbs the liquid.

Then just cook it in the pan as is.

If you microwave it too long, the egg sets right there and it becomes "done!" before you get to pan-fry it, so be careful if you want it fried.

Swap Sugar for Agave Syrup for Anti-Aging!

Some of you may not know the "agave syrup" in the recipe, so here's a quick explanation.

It's a syrup I use and recommend. Lately I tell my friends to replace all the sugar in their cooking with agave syrup.

There are three reasons I recommend it.

1. It's 1.3 times sweeter than sugar
It's sweeter than sugar, so a little goes a long way. White sugar is 98% sucrose, which can also cause oxidation, so you need to watch how much you take in! Agave syrup is under 3%, so it's reassuring.
2. Agave syrup is a low-GI food
A low-GI food is one that raises blood sugar gently after you eat it. White sugar has a GI of 109, while agave syrup is 28. A high sucrose content makes blood sugar rise quickly, and the body releases insulin to bring it down. As a result, blood sugar swings up and down, which can lead to feeling sluggish and unwell. To stay in good shape every day, it's a good idea to pay attention to blood sugar and choose low-GI foods.
3. It's liquid, so it's easy to use
This is my number one reason. With powdered sugar you have to mix it in while cooking, but a liquid can be used right away. Once you get used to the amounts, you can even pour it straight from the bottle, which is really handy!

Ways to Use Stale Bread

Besides French toast, stale bread has lots of uses.
Personally, I might like using it while it's still hard.

I'd feel reluctant to deliberately harden fresh bread (lol).

Use it hard

• Spread with butter and sugar and bake in the oven for rusks
• Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and bake for croutons
• Crush it in a food processor or similar for bread crumbs

Soften it first

• Add it to a gratin for a bread gratin
• Soak it in white wine vinegar for panzanella (an Italian dish)

Don't Give Up on Hard Bread!

As you can see, there are plenty of uses for bread that has gone hard!

Personally I like turning it into French toast, but rusks and croutons are good too,

so please don't throw it out. Try different variations as you like.

I'm sure you'll find a recipe you love.