Can Bread Be Too Stale for French Toast?

The best use of days-old stale bread is to make French toast. But how stale is too stale? That’s a question many people wonder about. And it’s an understandable one. No one wants to get sick succumbing to their love of French toast. So, can bread be too stale for French toast? 

As long as your bread doesn’t go moldy, stale bread no matter how old can be used to make French toast. Usually, mold starts to develop after 5 days. But if preserved properly then the age of your bread shouldn’t be an issue for making French toast.   

In this article, I will provide a fantastic method to make the perfect French toast and talk about when your bread might not be safe anymore for consumption. I’ll also provide some other recipes that you can try with your stale bread. So, keep on reading till the end.  

When Does Bread Become Unsafe for Consumption?

If you see something black, bluish, and fuzzy growing on your bread, that when you should not consume it. This fuzzy thing is mold and it can cause some serious health problems if consumed. 

These molds produce harmful mycotoxins that can seriously harm you. But, this is usually produced in harmful amounts when the mold reaches full maturity. So, if you ate a little bit of newly molded bread, don’t be worried. Still, staying away from any sort of moldy food is advised. Especially if you have any sort of respiratory illness. 

It is important to know that, once the bread is brought and packets are opened, about 5 – 7 days later it usually starts to get moldy. Especially if it is kept at room temperature. 

If your bread has been refrigerated, then it may stop the molding process a little bit comparatively. However, bread has a short freshness duration in general. Refrigeration does not prevent molding. 

Without the signs of mold, the bread becomes hard on the corners and does not have the softness any longer. 

You can then understand that it may start to mold any time soon. Even though there are no molds seen with the naked eye, there are chances that the insides have already caught fungi. But, it’s not really harmful at this stage. It’s when the mold is clearly visible, the bread becomes dangerous to eat. 

How to Make French Toast With Stale Bread? 

As I mentioned, bread starts to go stale starting the first 30 minutes to an hour of it being exposed to air. French toast is best made when the bread is a day or two days old. Fresh bread may also be used to make the toast, however, as there are mixtures added for the French toast, a little stale bread works better. 

Keeping that in mind, even though a bread gone stale is in the best position to be made into a French toast, the recipe I have aligned for you below can also be applied on fresh bread. 

Ingredients

• 3 – 4 eggs
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ½ cup of milk or soy milk (whichever you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons of sugar – (brown, white or powdered, whichever you prefer)
• 6 slices of regular bread

Toppings (Optional)

You may also skip this part as French toasts are great on their own as well. However, for toppings, you can go ahead with the following or even use other ingredients-

• Strawberries
• Cream cheese
• Cream
• Powdered sugar
• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Bananas
• Chocolate syrup

Making French Toast

Step 1 – Take a medium-sized bowl. Break all the eggs you are using, into the bowl. Beat the eggs until they are slowly starting to get combined. Then add milk and whisk till they are fully combined. You will notice a nice cream color and that is the indication that they are mixed well. 

Step 2 – Add sugar and vanilla extract to your mixture. If you want, you may also add some cinnamon with that, but it is up to your taste buds. Start whisking it all and make sure the sugar has been properly blended. 

When you start getting a beautiful smell of the mixture, you know it is done.

Step 3 – You can use the bowl if you want, but it is better to pour the mixture into a wider pan. Start to soak the bread in the mixture. Do not soak for long, otherwise, the bread will become soggy. Just make sure the bread is covered and there are no dry spots.

Plate the soaked bread on a different plate while heating your non – stick pan. 

Step 4 – As you start to heat your pan, add a little butter and soothe it all on the pan. Keep a medium heat when you are adding butter otherwise the butter might burn up and bring a wrong texture to your French toast. 

As the pan is heated, add a loaf of bread and the second one on your pan. Do not put the third one unless your pan is big enough for five, as overcrowding may not let the toast cook well. If you want it to be brown, cook each side for about a minute and check the color if needed. If you want it darker, you can cook it for about 2 minutes. 

You will know once you are done, as the smell will start to fill up your kitchen. You can then place the hot French toast on your plate and move on to the other loaves of bread. 

Step 5 – The last step is the easiest – the serving! You can add the toppings to your French toast if you like. You can add cream cheese or cream over the pile of French toasts with a few half-cut strawberries.

Nevertheless, you can eat right away without toppings. If you have followed my recipe, the ingredients I have mentioned are enough to make the French toast delicious. And in that case, you have a delightful meal right in front of you! 

What Else Can You Do with Stale Bread?

Many other food items can be made using stale bread, even if it has become a little hard and has lost the softness-

• Breadcrumbs – Stale bread can be used as breadcrumbs. As stale bread is comparatively hard than fresh bread is, the crumbs are better as layers for crunchy snacks. Breadcrumbs can also be left in the freezer for later. 

• Bread Pudding – You can also make bread pudding with stale bread. Stale bread tends to dissolve in the sweet custardy mixture well.

• Panzanella – This is an Italian Salad. In this salad, stale bread cubes are used as a dressing. Try it out! 

• In Soup – Bread can also be used to thicken soups. You can either combine them or cut cubes and spread them out. The stale bread crumbs may also be used as toppings. 

• Spaghetti, Pasta, or Lasagna Toppings – You can also use bread crumbs or slightly crumbed bread as toppings of your spaghetti Bolognese, oven baked pasta or cream cheese pasta. People also often use bread crumbs as toppings on lasagna. 

It is not always possible to finish a whole packet of bread as soon as you buy them. Thus, try to innovate new dishes where you can add stale bread.

Conclusion

It’s probably clear to you now whether or not can bread be too stale for French toast. French toast was invented with the sole purpose to make use of stale bread. So, no matter how state and rock hard your bread is, it can always be revived with a little egg mix and oil.