Make Your Own Crumbs
The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Don’t even think about buying the store-bought breadcrumbs that taste more like the cardboard cylinder they come in.

Use leftover bread to make your own breadcrumbs and croutons in a nanosecond. Have a bunch of heels? Use them up, and the same goes for the left over hot dog buns and any other bread you have taking up space in the bread drawer. Different recipes call for fresh or dried, depending on the desired effect. Make them ahead of time and store them in ziptop bags in the freezer.

Fresh Bread Crumbs: Tear apart bread slices, rolls or loafs and place in a food processor or blender. Pulse just until the crumbs form.

Dried Bread Crumbs: These are made from bread that has been toasted or baked slowly to remove all moisture, then processed to make fine, sand-like crumbs. Cut bread into ½-inch cube and place on a baking pan. Bake (300 degrees) for 10 to 15 minutes or until dry. Process in a food processor until fine crumbs form. To make Italian breadcrumbs, mix in some Parmesan cheese, dried parsley, oregano, basil and garlic powder.

Homemade Croutons: To make your own croutons, cube and dry bread completely. Add a little butter and a greater amount of olive oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat. Brown for 3-4 minutes, remove to a paper towel, sprinkle with garlic salt and dried herbs and place in a ziptop bag.

Penzeys.com sells the ultimate crouton herbs called the Sandwich Sprinkle, aka crouton seasoning.

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