An alternative to ‘normal’ porridge which gives a second day of life to a beautiful loaf of fresh crusty bread. Also a bit less stressful to cook in the morning than porridge as you can prepare the night before and just leave it unattended in the oven.

It needs a grain with a fair bit of bite to avoid it resembling something you are more likely to feed a sickly hedgehog than your beloved – I used spelt flakes, rye would make a great alternative. If using oats, I’d go jumbo and up the oats to bread ratio in favour of the oats.

The chia seeds add a healthy boost but also contribute to the texture – soak briefly before mixing in otherwise they will soak up more than their fair share of the milk.

Serve with more fresh fruit or yoghurt as you wish – coconut yohgurt would match the banana particularly well.

This could easily be adapted to a dessert – made richer with either the addition of cream or even a little of your favourite liqueur.

Experiment with any flavours you like – if you are sick of bananas try orange & passion fruit, apple & cinnamon, raspberry…

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

Stale Bread	150	grams
Banana	2
Milk – of your preference	400	millilitres
Spelt or Rye Flakes	60	grams
Chia Seeds	20	grams

Main Equipment

1. Ovenproof dish approx 30x15cm

Method

1. Slice the bread into roughly 2cm cubes. I think this recipe works best with a loaf which has a high crust to ‘mie’ ratio (mie is the french word for the soft white interior of a loaf of bread – I’m not sure we have an English translation and I’m sure it isn’t as poetic). By implication the bread needs to have been crusty in the first place. Too much mie and this really will be like food for the bereft of teeth.
2. Gently warm the milk. Just warm, no need or desire to get anywhere near boiling. I did this to help it blend with the other ingredients and soak into the bread. It may not be necessary but if you wanted to make an alternative using something like lemon curd, chocolate spread or the new-to-me ‘speculoos’ this will help it mix evenly through the other ingredients.
3. Soak the chia seeds in a few tablespoons of cold water. This is just to start the process of them absorbing liquid and try to stop them taking more than their fair share of the milk. You could probably just up the quantity of milk.
4. Peel and lightly mash the banana.
5. Mix the banana, chia seeds and spelt or rye flakes with the milk.
6. Place the bread cubes in an ovenproof dish.
7. Pour the milk mixture over the bread cubes and mix well. Try to avoid mixing so hard that the bread disintegrates completely – you want some nice crusts to give a bit of a crunchy top.
8. Leave to soak for 15 minutes or overnight.
9. Bake in a hottish oven (about 200c) for 25-30 minutes – until set with a crunchy golden top.
10. Serve with extra fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, some flaked almonds if you wish too.

Will keep for an extra day or so and be just as good cold.