A little toast

More on little toasts in a minute but I first want to raise a glass to all of you whose blogs I read on a regular basis. I have missed so much in the month that I was away and am just beginning to catch up. I've visited with the ginger cats, the big black cat and the much missed gold puppy, Jake. I've been to Scotland to visit Cornflower who has an 'O' of her own and to Wales to visit with Cait and Deborah and catch a little of the magic of their worlds. But, so many of you I haven't gotten to- I haven't had the chance, yet, to catch up with your lives during the last days of summer. But, I will.

But now, I want to share a very simple thing that I do now with bread. Maybe you do it too or maybe you think that it would take some thing special- a recipe or a certain tool or technique. But no- here it is- simple, good and recycling of a sort.

When I have a loaf of bread that is threatening to go hard or worse- gather a bit of mould, I make what I call bruschetta out of it. Now, I realize that bruschetta has come to mean toasted or dried bread with something wonderful on top. But mine never makes it that far.

The first step is to slice the bread into small pieces. If you have a narrow baguette- you just slice it the way it is. In this case, I had a loaf of pugliese bread that was wide and short. So, I sliced the load in half, down the middle, before cutting it into narrow slices. How wide the slice? That depends a little on the texture of the loaf- if it is dense and chewy- make the slices very thin but if it is full of air pockets- each slice can be a little wider. But, you are looking for crunch, not a board.

Next step, a bowl of olive oil and brush- just brush a little olive oil on each slice that has been arranged on a baking sheet. Traditional bruschetta would have a clove of garlic rubbed on it but I leave that step out- my daughter works in a restaurant and saves garlic for her days off.

Then, a light sprinkle of kosher salt and a grind or two of pepper. I wanted to show you my salt cellar- inherited from my grandmother. It sits beside the stove on the counter with its yellow coffee spoon from long ago times. I wish that I could find another just like it for my daughter- still looking. And I love my electric pepper grinder- just turn it upside down and it grinds away.

Into a 350 degree oven go the little toasts for about 20 minutes. You want to take them out when some of them have begun to turn a little brown- don't wait for them all to color up.

When they've cooled completely- pop them into a zip lock bag or a tin and they will keep until you need them. They can be topped with all sorts of toppings for a party or just eaten out of the bag. You can even crumble them into soup or salad as you would a crouton. But, mine usually just get eaten straight out of the bag.

Delicious!