f all the food we throw away, bread makes up the largest  amount (over 516,000 tonnes of it a year, worth over £750  million) – which is perhaps not entirely surprising when you  discover that in the UK around 12 million loaves are sold each  day. Whether you buy a pre-packed sliced white loaf from the  supermarket, bread from your local baker, or whether you  make it yourself, you don’t have to throw away the end of the  loaf. For a start, you can store it as breadcrumbs (see page 49)  in the freezer for using with meatballs, fishcakes, stuffings or as the crispy top for bakes.

read or rolls which have gone stale can be given a new lease of life by swooshing them briefly under cold running water. They should  be wet all over but not soggy. Put them into a hot oven for 5–10  minutes and, hey presto, they will be crusty and fresh again.  You really cannot do this more than once with the same piece  of bread.

ll that aside, there are also several delicious puddings to  make with either sliced bread or breadcrumbs. Part of a  brilliant British tradition of almost forgotten ‘nursery’ puddings,  these include classics such as summer pudding – the dessert  that, like Marmite, divides the nation into lovers and haters.