The Cheese and Stale Bread Pie is a typical recipe from Trentino to use up stale bread which, with a good melting cheese and little else, transforms into a tasty and very easy bake that puffs up and turns golden on the surface when cooked.

Simply stale bread, cheese, some slices of cooked ham, and eggs with milk to soak it all, baked for 20 minutes and it will be ready.

You can use any cheese you have at home as long as it melts; thus, fontina, caciotta, Asiago, or Latteria are ideal choices. You can use a mix of these and will surely impress.

Below, I leave you other recipes to use up stale bread, and then, as usual, right below the photo, let’s discover how to prepare this Stale Bread Pie!!

Difficulty: Very Easy
Cost: Very Cheap
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: 4 people
Cooking methods: Oven, Air Fry
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All Seasons

Ingredients for Cheese and Stale Bread Pie

10 oz stale bread (sliced)
14 oz fontina (or other melting cheese)
1 cup milk
4 eggs
2 pinches salt
to taste black pepper (ground)

Steps for Stale Bread and Cheese Pie

Cut the stale bread into not too thin slices.
Dip it quickly in the milk and place a layer in an oven dish.
Slice the cheese thinly and cover the first layer of bread with the cheese.
Place slices of cooked ham on top to cover everything.
Quickly dip the other slices of bread and arrange them in the dish on top of the ham, pressing down lightly.
Make a third layer with cheese, ham, and more bread.
Beat the eggs with the remaining milk, season with salt and pepper, and pour the mixture into the dish.
Finish with the remaining cheese cut into cubes, preheat the oven to 392°F static mode.
Bake the bread pie in the middle rack and cook for 20 minutes; it should be puffy and golden on the surface.
Place the dish in the air fryer basket, set the oven mode to 338°F, and cook the bread pie in the air fryer for 15/16 minutes.