October 16, 2018 is National Day Against Food Waste. According to
Ademe, each of us wastes the equivalent of one meal a week... It's huge! Among the frequently wasted foods, bread, because we have forgotten it and it is no longer fresh enough for our taste, often ends up in the trash. Thus,
the Observatoire du Pain has decided to share anti-waste tips via its YouTube channel
NIAP by Coucou! Bread.
We have all noticed that ball loaves keep better than baguettes. This is quite simply due to the fact that there is less exchange surface with the ambient air. Breads with a dense crumb also keep longer than those with an airy crumb (this is why the traditional baguette keeps better than the classic one!).
If you want to eat the bread quickly but not immediately, keep it in a clean tea towel or a cloth bag. The goal:to limit exposure to ambient air.
Thawed bread can pass for fresh bread, provided you follow this golden rule:put it in the freezer while it is still fresh. Indeed, freezing does not change the appearance of the product, so if you freeze it hard, it will be hard when thawed. The bread is placed in a food bag from which the air is squeezed out before closing it.
The ideal way to properly thaw bread is to do it in advance and let it warm up in the ambient air. If you don't have time, the toaster is a good option (at high intensity or in "defrost" mode), as is the oven (a few minutes are enough to have a hot and crispy bread!). The microwave is the least recommended option because it tends to soften the bread (that said, it's not a disaster either!).
Finally, we do not hesitate to adapt to the state of the bread to consume it:a little hard bread can thus be used as croutons in a soup or a salad, or serve to make French toast (yum! ). And if you really don't want/can't eat it, you can always give it to the birds...
With these 5 tips, it is absolutely forbidden to waste bread from now on! And if we ever want to get more involved, we also think of
Food Banks, committed for more than 30 years against food insecurity and waste, and who always need volunteers.
