The Humble Crumb...cookery book with uses for breadcrumbs

gnome_3

I found this interesting little cookery book, the Humble Crumb by Elizabeth Jones.
In the introduction she says that she felt guilty throwing away the odd crust or slice when there are so many starving people so she set about finding uses for all the breadcrumbs that she was producing. The book has 200 + recipes from soups, snacks, vegetarian, main courses pudding and cakes, all of them containing breadcrumbs.
With a bread maker the bread doesn't keep so well so this book will come in very handy

Queenie

Thanks gnome ... I'm very lucky that my Mother was a new wife/mother during the war years and dreadful rationing they had to endure so she passed on many hints/tips and make-do's onto me. I haven't heard of that book and I'm sure there will be a number of OStyler's who will appreciate your suggestion

As an aside, did you know ... during the war years, someone could be fined if found throwing away food? ( which includes breadcrumbs)

Hope you have many, happy, moneysaving, cooking hours with your book - it does sound interesting.

tenuissent

Yes, I cannot throw away bread, partly because we make ours at home and it's just too painful. It goes in the freezer, and comes out when I need breadcrumbs (or, I'm sorry to say, bread for grandchildren to throw to ducks. Sorry because someone recently told me it's bad for the ducks, plus It's A Waste, but ducks and children do enjoy it).

For me, breadcrumbs are mixed with grated cheese for toppings to sloppy things to give crispness (shepherd's pie, stuffed marrow/pepper etc,), mixed in with mince for meatballs, cover fishcakes, all sorts of things. I usually have a screwtop jamjar in the fridge with breadcrumbs at the ready.

thriftlady_2

I too make all my own bread and really begrudge throwing any of it away.
Another good source of recipes using breadcrumbs is Marguerite Patten's We'll Eat Again (and her other wartime books).

I cube all my crusts and bag them up for the freezer.When we have soup I fry them up for croutons straight from frozen.My children adore them. :xmastree:

Sweet_Pea_2

I recently had a book from the library called "cheap and easy" vegetarian recipes by Rose Elliott. This has lots of uses for breadcrumbs in it. I also have the Marguerite Patten "We'll eat again" books, and they are great too. In fact I have a friend who needed a cake recipe which did not contain eggs for her MIL and there are recipes like that to be found in those books so they are really useful.
My OH hates cheese, so sometimes I replace cheese with breadcrumbs - ie, pizza. (I know this sounds horrible but it doesnt taste too bad - or maybe I have just got used to it) I make a pizza base, top it with bolognese sauce and mince and sprinkle with breadcrumbs and brown under the grill.
I recently found a recipe for "bread crumb cookies" too. I haven't tried these yet so I don't know what they are like though.

HOLsale

i save up bread ends in the freezer and use them for dunking in soup if we need immediate freezer space or use them to make both sweet and savoury versions of bread and butter pudding.

you've never really had a proper sweet bread and butter pudding til you've had it made with seeded batch bread ends mmmmmmmmmmm the best!

i don't like throwing them away either

sweet pea mentioned a friend that needs baking without eggs

use 1 heaping tbsp soya flour and 1 tbsp water per egg needed in a recipe, works great! (you must have some other kind of fat in the recipe though like oil or butter) you can get soy flour from most health food shops

thriftlady_2

Baking without eggs is a major preoccupation with me as my daughter is allergic to them.That is why I first started using Marguerite Patten's books.

I've also used the soya flour substitute and the breadcrumb cookie recipe -both in The Tightwad Gazette.The breadcrumb cookies are yummy but often turn out quite soft,the recipe just says bake until done and I'm never sure when that is.

The problem I have with the soya flour is that it always comes with a 'may contain traces of nuts' warning which makes it unsuitable for my egg allergic daughter as she is also allergic to nuts! :rudolf:

Sweet_Pea_2

I have the tightwad gazette book too, I love it! I have read about the soy flour and water egg replacement in there too.

thriftlady_2

I read it in the bath! not a good idea as its so big. My favourite bits are her pantry principle list and her article on tightwad slimming although I haven't managed to put this into practice yet.

A lot of her ideas are relevant to the US, but I find the general philosophy very useful and adaptable.

super41

Slightly off at a tangent, but I have a fab recipe for a egg and dairy free chocolate cake. Tastes really good and only uses 'everyday' ingredients, nothing dodgy like soya flour (I'm allergic to nuts also!)

If anyone is interested PM me and I'll let you have the recipe.

PS Love all the tips about breadcrumbs - I didn't realise so many people freeze odd bits of bread like me!!