Day Old or Stale Bread
If you are one of those people who decided that as a new year resolution will live a frugal life, then this recipe is for you and your sweet tooth. I always marvel at the many ways our previous generations avoided wasting food, and this is just one example of it. Bakers will use the unsold bread of the day to make bread pudding, and these tasty, can’t get enough of them breads called “Piedras” (Stones).
They are a mix of a cookie and a bread. If you like scones or biscuits then you will enjoy this versatile recipe. After several times baking them in the past 2 months and experimenting with the recipe, it allows for many variations: you can add raisins, dried cranberries, frozen blueberries and even chocolate chips. However, in México they are sold plain.
Although I had this recipe for many years, it was until recently that after a fellow blogger girlichef mentioned it in her blog that this is one of her husband’s favorite Mexican pastries at their local bakery, and since this is also one of my favorites breads, I decided to make them at home. Try it yourself next time you have some day old bread or stale bread, you will be surprised of how easy they are to prepare. You can even freeze the dough after mixing it for later use.
How to make Day Old or Stale Bread
JUMP TO FULL INSTRUCTIONS 
Please check notes below if you are using sweetbreads or a mix of breads.
Instructions:
- After a few days of buying the bread and when it starts to look sad, I usually cut it in cubes and freeze it in a plastic bag to be used for bread crumbs, croutons, bread pudding and the like. When it is just sweet bread like challah, croissants, or biscuits they are frozen in a separate bag from the plain or salty bread. In this case, the one in the pictures is day old sweetbreads. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- The breadcrumbs are placed in the food processor and processed until they become fine crumbs.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, then add the margarine and knead. Gradually mix in the milk until you form a smooth dough.
- Knead the dough until it is soft. If the dough seems hard to add more milk. The dough should resemble cookie dough.
- Using a 2 1/3 inch ice cream scoop place the dough on your greased baking sheet. Arrange them one inch apart. Sprinkle with sugar and bake until the bread is golden at edges but firm, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
- 4 1/2 cup 500 grams plain bread crumbs, made out after processing your bread in the food processor or blender
- 1 3/4 cup 250 grams All purpose flour
- 1/2 cup 100 grams sugar
- 100 grams margarine
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 ½ cup whole milk add slowly
- Flour as needed to work the dough
- Sugar to decorate the topping
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The bread crumbs are placed in the food processor and processed until they become fine crumbs.
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Preheat your oven at 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, then add the margarine and knead. Gradually mix in the milk until you form a smooth dough.
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Knead the dough until it is soft. If the dough seems hard add more milk. The dough should resemble cookie dough.
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Using a 2 1/3 inch ice cream scoop place the dough in your greased baking sheet. Arrange them one inch apart. Sprinkle with sugar and bake until the bread is golden at edges but firm, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
If using sweet breads reduce the amount of sugar to 4 Tablespoons. The same applies to milk, reduce the amount to 1 cup. Since sweet breads tend to be on the moist side. Just add the milk little by little.
Let me know if you try this recipe, I will love to hear about your own version.
¡Buen provecho!
Mely,
More recipes:
Strawberries and Cream
Cassava Fritters
Hola Mely, que ricos para el cafecito! a mi que me encanta tener siempre algo para acompañar…
besitos
Hola Gaby,
Si, ricos para el cafecito, super facil y versatiles de hacer.
Saludos,
Mely
Hello Mely :), Stones? THats a very unusual name for a food? have a nice day!
Hello Nammi,
I guess the name comes after their look. This bread kind of resemble stones. I read somewhere that the English Scones also got their name from a stone.
Mely
What a great idea, I always have left over bread. I'll have to print these instructions and save in my bread files.
Mely, thank you so much for reminding me! I had sort of tucked the recipe away before the holiday madness, and then forgot. These look just like the ones my hubby loves and I can't wait to make them for him. Thanks so much!
It is a good time now dear Heather.
Have a nice day!
Mely
I am so glad to see the Piedras on your blog! And what a great idea to freeze the dough for later use. That had not occurred to me. That way, I could make the dough, divide it into portions suitable for just me and my husband, and freeze them. Thank you!
Hello Yolanda,
I am glad you enjoy the recipe.
Mely
Qué fácil y rico!! nunca las he hecho Mely!! se antojan con éste frillito verdad?
Saludos querida amiga
Si, Pily
Con un cafecito bien rico.
Saludos,
Mely
I'd love to give these a try. I hope I can remember it for the next time I have stale bread. I just used up some stale homemade bread yesterday and made bread pudding!
Hello Karen,
I hope you try them. They take less time to make than bread pudding.
Have a great week!
Mely
I never heard of these sweets, but they look amazing!
Mely,
Que buena idea! se me antoja pan dulce de conchas.
trate se hacer pan dulce y me salio bien mal. aver cuando lo haces y lo posteas en tu blog.
besios
Hola Dora,
Tengo una receta de roles de canela aqui en el blog y salen muy buenos. Me la dio mi amiga Nora.
Solo avisame cuando los vas a hacer y nos ponemos de acuerdo para ayudarte por skype.
Saludos, Guapa!
Mely
Looking into that Zip-loc, it seems to me that I see some of that pink stuff that is drizzled on top of Mexican sweet bread, as they call it around here. The round little buns with cross hatched cuts into the top that come in pink and yellow. Is that what you're using? I never picked up the sweet bread habit, but the stones look delicious.
You are right Kirby. I have one of those breads into the mix and everything came out with a pink color.
Have a great week.
Mely
Living a frugal life resolution…that's me. I sure will try this recipe, it looks great. Thanks for sharing.
Hola Prieta,
Let me know if you try it.
Mely
Mely, bien que me acuerdo de estos panes llamados Piedras, aquí en Tampico, los recuerdo con un sabor a canela y al morderlos,como dices, su textura es como de pan y galleta al mismo tiempo. Hace tiempo que ya no los he comido, pero voy a buscarlos, o mejor hacerlos. Cuando dices Plain bread a qué te refieres? En la fotografía se ve como pan dulce, y ese color rosa, qué es?
Gracias por la receta!
Si, Nora. Pan de sal, como el frances o pan de sandwich. EL color rosa se lo dio un pedazo de pan de dulce que tenia un color rosa.
Me platicas si los haces.
Mely
Mely,
que ricos remojados en una taza de leche!
El problema aquí es tratar de que sobre algo 😀
Un abrazo
Tlaz
Te entiendo Falvio, sobretodo con un pan horneado en leña como los que tu haces, que delicia.
Saludos,
Mely
Tengo una receta parecida a la tuya, heredada de mi Abue y de vez en cuando la preparo sobre todo en esta epoca de frio siempre es un exito en casa. Por otro lado te cuento, mi esposo tiene dos semanas estudiando tu receta para los tamales los va a preparar este fin de semana, es la segunda vez que intentaremos hacer tamales por nuestra cuenta, a ver como nos va por que la primer vez todo se fue a la basura 🙂
Saludos y que tengas un exelente fin de semana.
Hola Ruth,
Ojala todo quede bien rico para tus tamales.
Saludos,
Mely
This wonderful idea Mely I love it.
Mely, this is fantastic! We have access to the greatest deals locally on stale bread. I can't wait to give these a try. Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend!
Bonjour ,
Dans le Nord de la France , où je suis née , lorsque nous avons du pain rassis … pour ne pas le jeter , nous faisons du " pain perdu " …
la baguette , nous la coupons en tronçons pas très gros … tout dépend du pain …
nous le trempons dans le lait froid que l'on peut vanillé … qu'il soit bien empreignez de lait , mais pas détrempé , puis nous faisons la même chose dans des oeufs battus …
nous cuisons les bouts de pain à la poêle dans un peu d'huile …
puis le dégustons , chaud ou froid , meilleur tiède , avec du sucre glace ou toute forme de sucre en poudre …
généralement , les mamans font cela pour le goûter !
Bon appétit !
Hello Mademoiselle,
That is an excellent idea way to used the bread.Thanks for sharing it. I will try to make your recipe for Sunday Brunch.
Happy cooking and Provecho!
Can I use store bought Progresso bread crumbs?
Hello Carolyn,
They could work to make a salty version, maybe adding some herbs and Parmesan cheese. Something like that. Not sure how good will they work since those crumbs are completely dry. I will go ahead and try, maybe adding a little bit of flour to form the dough.
If you try it, please let me know.
Happy cooking.
I have to make an authentic dish for spanish class and this is perfect! Thank you so much for doing this! This help so much.
And it looks delicious!