Leftover Crusty Bread

If you're like me, you buy French bread at a store and use it for various things.  Even basic grocery stores can provide decent French or Italian bread, so no need to make it yourself, though I recommend trying it sometime. 

Inevitably you'll end up with dried out bread that is too crusty for sandwiches, garlic bread, or making pizza bread.  However, no need to throw it out. 

Two great uses of such bread:

1) cut it into cubes and toss with a large salad that has a lot of moisture, i.e. chopped tomatoes and homemade vinaigrette.  It will give your salad enough heft to serve as a whole meal.  One time I tossed a small tin of Italian tonno (tuna), bread cubes, mayo, chopped tomato, chopped red onion, balsamic vinegar, dijon, and olive oil together to make a great lunch.

2) chop or tear your crusty bread into cubes and use it as a thickener for any kind of soup; I especially like to add it to a rustic Italian style soup of cannellini beans, broth, leftover chicken or pork, onion, and garlic.  Any soup or stew is a great use of dried out French bread.