Never Buy Croutons

Ok... that title is a bit too authoritative. Buy them if you like. However, if you would like to try something different, you can very easily make your own. My wife loves these, which is really saying something since she is one tough customer.


Here is everything you need:

• Bread (any kind, sliced, white, wheat, rye, rolls, buns, breadsticks, home made, store bought, stolen, borrowed, lost, found, and so on)
• Bread knife (I use an electric for this)
• Oven or toaster oven
• Sheet pan
• Bag (paper, plastic... or even a large plastic bowl with a top)

Well, that's it really. Now if you want it to taste like something other than toast, grab any of the following:

• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Onion powder
• Ground basil
• Ground oregano
• Cayenne pepper

... just about anything


Now, here's what you do

Set your oven to 250F. You can go higher, but you don't want to toast anything, you want to dry the bread out.

Okay, while that's heating up, slice your bread into cubes. Try to make them uniformly sized (1/4" or 1/2"). The larger the cubes the longer they'll need to spend in the oven. Once you have a mound of cubes, put them into the bag or container. Add your selection of spices and SHAKE.

The moisture within the bread and the porous surface will both capture some of the spices. Continue shaking until the cubes are coated.

Dump the cubes onto an ungreased sheet pan and place in your preheated oven. The amount of time needed will depend on the type of bread used, size of cubes and how spaced apart they are. I usually give it about 20-30 mins then check. If I'm not happy, I give them 10 mins more and repeat that process until I have a bunch of crunchy cubes.

When they're done, remove the pan and let the pan and cubes cool. Once they are more or less room temperature, you can store them in a sealed container or resealable storage bag. Let them cool completely or else you will get vapor in the storage container and that could make them soggy and tough.


Take it a step further...

If you ignore the last two sentences of the instructions above and replace with "...dump them into a food processor and smash the hell outta them!" you will end up with breadcrumbs. Since January of this year these are the only breadcrumbs I use. No more wasted left-over bread.






Different seasonings

Here are some ideas for seasoning combinations I've used. There are endless possibilities. If you have a spice grinder, mix the spices together and grind them all at once into a single spice concoction for greater consistency.


Simple

• Paprika
• Touch of ground salt

Asian/oriental style

• Ginger
• Cinnamon
• Corriander
• Cumin
• Cliantro
• Touch of powdered sea salt

Italian-ish

• Ground basil
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Light Olivio spray before baking (add extra baking time, serve fresh)
• Paprika

Sweet croutons (great if you're including fruits in your salad)

• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg (just a hint)
• Sugar
• Hot chocolate mix

Spicy

• Cayenne pepper
• Chili powder
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Cilantro
• Hint of beef flavor (HerbOx, or instead use a powdered meat-tenderizer which is usually salt, pineapple enzyme and garlic)