This is an easy way to make some old bread even more tasty and nutritious then it was to begin with! Stale bread occurs often in our house, and I already have a recipe on the blog for Vegan Mini French Toast Bites, which uses firm tofu to make the custard soak.
Here, to switch things up, chickpea flour is used. It is a wonderful, soy-free, way of packing your breakfast with protein, fiber, and iron. The chickpeas taste cannot be detected (lots of kids and adults alike have devoured it with no hesitation). Another ingredient I use is oat pulp/oat goop. It is what remains after making oat milk, so this recipe is truly an efficient way to get rid of leftover food lying around your kitchen!
To sweeten the casserole I use mashed-up frozen banana, but, if you're feeling adventurous you can swap it out for some apple sauce, pumpkin or sweet potato puree (you may need to add a bit of sugar though).
Ingredients (serves 4-6)
roughly 3 cups of bite sized, stale, bread pieces
1 large frozen banana, thawed
1/4 cup chickpea flour
172g oat pulp/goop
2 Tbs water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
almond slivers to top with (can be subbed for pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts...)
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a square 5" pan (this recipe works with any pan that has an area close to 25" though).
2. Blend together everything but the bread chunks until smooth. Put the bread pieces in a medium sized bowl and stir in the blended mixture until all the bread is coated. Transfer your bread mix into the prepared pan and sprinkle with almond slivers. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top of the casserole turns golden. Serve with stewed berries, whipped coconut cream or maple syrup. Enjoy!
Certainly an interesting bread and butter pudding invention 😁