How Jacques Pépin Transforms Leftover Bread Into A Savory Breakfast

When you have a half or a whole loaf of leftover bread going stale, classic French toast or bread pudding are great solutions to rescue all of it. But if you are more in the mood for something savory, the options are fewer. For these instances, the venerated French chef, cookbook author, and TV host Jacques Pépin has a quick and easy solution: pancakes.

Although Pépin, who was born in 1935, has cooked for famous people, including French president Charles de Gaulle, his modest upbringing and the wartime food shortages that his generation experienced geared him towards avoiding food waste. He told Tasting Table in an exclusive interview that he frequently integrates leftovers into his home cooking.

The preparation of these savory pancakes, or flapjacks, couldn't be simpler. All you need to do is cut the bread into pieces, soak it in just enough milk to soften it, and stir in an egg. For flavor, Pépin adds a bit of minced onion or garlic. That mixture gets fried in a little butter or neutral-tasting oil until nicely browned on both sides.

There is lots of room for experimentation. You can use minced shallot instead of onion, or snipped chives for a hint of extra onion flavor. In the springtime, instead of garlic, try a couple of tablespoons of chopped green garlic or foraged ramps. Whatever you do, these humble little pancakes make not only an unusual breakfast fare but taste good any time of the day.

If you look at other cuisines, you'll find plenty of savory recipes using leftover bread. Germany has its famous bread dumplings, semmelknödel, a specialty of Bavaria that is also a staple in Austrian cuisine. In Bavaria, the dumplings are so popular that you can even buy special bread cubes at the grocery store to make them.

Italy has ribollita soup, the nourishing Tuscan white bean soup that is thickened with leftover bread, and panzanella, a salad with tomatoes, other vegetables, and toasted cubes of stale bread. Sliced bread that has turned dry is also the perfect base for Spanish pan con tomate, a specialty from Catalonia — because the fresh tomato topping turns the toasted bread soggy if it's still soft. In the Middle East, the bread salad fattoush is a popular way to rescue stale pita.

If you are really short on time and don't get around to making a dish with leftover bread, there is always the option to turn it into breadcrumbs (even without a food processor) or croutons to use for Caesar salad later. You can trust that anything that saves leftover bread from being thrown out would get a nod of approval from Jacques Pépin.

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