A very generous neighbor started bringing us huge bags of day old bakery bread two weeks ago–bread she had left over from her distributions to the homeless, so maybe she has decided we look hungry too–and because I can’t stand throwing away food, I had to figure out what to do with all of the bread. I gave some away to other neighbors I know like bread, and that still left us with just under a ton of bread to consume.

This led to a frenzy of looking up uses for old bread on the internet and asking friends for recipes. Here’s what we’ve made with the bread so far:

1 huge bread pudding with bananas
1 huge collard green and cheese strata
1 huge blackberry bread pudding
panzanella salad with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil
lots of sourdough toast
two pounds of garlic bread taken to a party
crostini
bruschetta

I still have two half-eaten loaves on the counter, demanding my attention, but I’m fairly sick of everything that contains bread. I plan on crumbling them up and freezing them to use as bread crumbs in meatballs, meatloaf, and such.

Any other favorite uses for old bread?