We've got a little over half a loaf of stale bread, and I LOVE croutons. So I think I'll be making croutons tomorrow :)
I've made them a couple times before. I think I just used butter & garlic salt (we love garlic salt!). But the first time I made it I followed the recipe I had found. It said to mix the butter & seasonings in a bowl & then mix in the bread cubes, then lay them out on a baking sheet & cook them. They tasted good, but stirring them up in the bowl just made some of them into a mushy mess!!
Another time I tried "painting" the butter & seasoning mix on each individual bread cube. Worked better, but I don't think I want to do that with this much bread!
Anybody have any better ways to make croutons? Thanks!
Drizzle them with some olive oil and whatever seasoing you want and shake the bowl up a little and put em on a sheet and bake em!
I'm glad you posted this. A friends and I were just talking about bread crumbs the other day. I just tossed a heal out because I didn't know where to begin. Thanks!
You can also get an oil mister or spray bottle for olive oil and use that to spray the bread.
use olive oil-MUCH better for you. Most restaurants use it also. Works better with salad than the buttery flavor.
We make ours at home with the leftover bread all the time -- my shortcut method is to cut the bread up and put it back in the bread bag. Drizzle with olive oil, add the seasonings (I usually just use Italian seasoning and garlic powder). Then, leaving a little air in the bag, twist the top and shake til everything is coated. Then I lay out on a baking sheet to bake.
This takes a little more time but the croutons come out really good. I usually melt butter in a pan and add different herbs and spices then throw in the cubed bread and toss to coat it then place on baking sheet to complete in the oven.
Why don't you just butter the bread first and then cut them up into cubes. I bet a pizza cutter would make it really easy to cut the bread up.
Butter spray... or butter flavored cooking spray..... and it cuts down on the calories and then mix the herbs/spices.
at work, we cut up the ends and put them in the freezer until we need them. Once they are frozen they will not fall apart so easily when you are mixing them with your favorite seasonings. You can use either vegetable oil, or olive, sprinkle your seasonings on them, mix, put them on a sheet pan and bake.
Either use melted butter or olive oil (olive is my preference... more crisp and tang). Mix the herbs into the liquid... then either dunk the pieces indivually (what I do with small amounts) and then sprinkle with parm reggiano or pecorino, and lay them on the cookie sheet and bake until crispy... or pour onto cookie sheet and place bread on sheet, flipping each piece over.
I cook at high temps... so I dip/ drip/ lay (or toss in a bowl... literally, pour them in and grab both sides of the bowl and literally "toss" the bread up in the air in a circle for large amounts)... because I don't want the excess oil on the sheet smoking in the oven. Smoked crutons end up being dogfood in our house. I'm sure smoked crutons have a place (with salmon maybe?), but not with the salad or soup I'm making them for.
Another trick is to partially toast them FIRST. Not a lot. Just enough to help them keep their shape.
