Homemade Croutons
Now that school has resumed, we've gotten back into something of a schedule as far as our food shopping goes. And I'm not just talking about when we go to the supermarket, but even what we buy. The kids and I troop over to Wegmans on Thursday after school where I order a large cheese pizza for us to eat and we buy a french baguette and rotisserie chicken to bring home, along with various produce, milk, eggs etc. My husband and daughter frequently pack a lunch and we must never be without bread, cheese, some kind of meat to put in the sandwiches, lettuce, tomato and cucumber. But if you think about it, if you change up the proportions a little, what you've got are also ingredients for a simple salad. Have a great dressing on hand and make your own croutons. Ever since I started doing it, I've never bought pre-made croutons at the store ever again.
I start with the leftovers of an old french baguette, sliced into cubes. I adjust the amount of butter and garlic salt based on how much bread I'm working with. For half a baguette, I might use anywhere from 2T up to 1/4 cup butter and 2t of garlic salt. I'd stop myself from using an entire stick of butter for a whole baguette though. There's just something that doesn't sound right about that LOL. I'd melt the 1/4c and just add maybe another tablespoon (that's 5T max) and pour it all over the bread, rolling it around, trying to get each piece buttered. I use garlic salt that comes in a shaker so I just eyeball the amounts, usually making one pass over the entire lot, but salting lightly. Then I toss the entire lot to distribute the salt better and to further ensure that each and every piece is getting coated with butter somehow. You could add more garlic salt, and toss again or put some dried herbs in. You could use regular salt instead and be a little more generous with the garlic powder, adding some parsley later on. The taste will vary according to what you put in it, so experiment away! Just remember though, that less is usually better. There's nothing worse that an oversalted crouton. I can't even eat those.
I tend to put foil on a large baking sheet and use that as my mixing and tossing surface too. You can do it in a separate container and then dump the entire lot on the baking sheet, if you prefer. If you slice the bread and toss it into a really large container that has a lid, you could pour the butter and salt in there, pop on the lid and give it a good shake to distribute the ingredients before dumping the whole lot on to a baking sheet. But I like working the butter in by hand. I couldn't even tell you if that makes a difference. I just like doing it :)
The baking sheet goes into a 300 degree oven for roughly 40 minutes. For less robust bread, ones that aren't very dense, you'll want to keep an eye on it after 20 minutes. Halfway through, I give the croutons a quick repositioning, just running a flat, wooden spoon through the bottom and redistributing the croutons so you get a more even toast. The point is to keep it all in the oven until you've gotten all the moisture out of the bread and you have these buttery, golden, toasted pieces. Let cool completely before storing in a lidded container.
The fun part about making croutons is not just being able to experiment with salts and herbs but it's also great to try it out with different kinds of bread. Somebody at Panera told me that they use their Asiago loaf for their croutons. Bread like that, I find, hardly even needs to be seasoned. The asiago cheese has enough saltiness to carry it through. But I love Asiago bread that if I buy that, there wouldn't be any left to make into croutons. If you tend to have leftover sliced bread, making croutons is a great way to use them up when they're too old for sandwiches. Personally though, I don't find that it gives me the texture that I look for in croutons so I'd sooner make them into french toast than croutons. But if you're making French Toast, might I suggest challah bread instead? They will be delicious!
Instructions:
I start with the leftovers of an old french baguette, sliced into cubes. I adjust the amount of butter and garlic salt based on how much bread I'm working with. For half a baguette, I might use anywhere from 2T up to 1/4 cup butter and 2t of garlic salt. I'd stop myself from using an entire stick of butter for a whole baguette though. There's just something that doesn't sound right about that LOL. I'd melt the 1/4c and just add maybe another tablespoon (that's 5T max) and pour it all over the bread, rolling it around, trying to get each piece buttered. I use garlic salt that comes in a shaker so I just eyeball the amounts, usually making one pass over the entire lot, but salting lightly. Then I toss the entire lot to distribute the salt better and to further ensure that each and every piece is getting coated with butter somehow. You could add more garlic salt, and toss again or put some dried herbs in. You could use regular salt instead and be a little more generous with the garlic powder, adding some parsley later on. The taste will vary according to what you put in it, so experiment away! Just remember though, that less is usually better. There's nothing worse that an oversalted crouton. I can't even eat those.
I tend to put foil on a large baking sheet and use that as my mixing and tossing surface too. You can do it in a separate container and then dump the entire lot on the baking sheet, if you prefer. If you slice the bread and toss it into a really large container that has a lid, you could pour the butter and salt in there, pop on the lid and give it a good shake to distribute the ingredients before dumping the whole lot on to a baking sheet. But I like working the butter in by hand. I couldn't even tell you if that makes a difference. I just like doing it :)
The baking sheet goes into a 300 degree oven for roughly 40 minutes. For less robust bread, ones that aren't very dense, you'll want to keep an eye on it after 20 minutes. Halfway through, I give the croutons a quick repositioning, just running a flat, wooden spoon through the bottom and redistributing the croutons so you get a more even toast. The point is to keep it all in the oven until you've gotten all the moisture out of the bread and you have these buttery, golden, toasted pieces. Let cool completely before storing in a lidded container.
The fun part about making croutons is not just being able to experiment with salts and herbs but it's also great to try it out with different kinds of bread. Somebody at Panera told me that they use their Asiago loaf for their croutons. Bread like that, I find, hardly even needs to be seasoned. The asiago cheese has enough saltiness to carry it through. But I love Asiago bread that if I buy that, there wouldn't be any left to make into croutons. If you tend to have leftover sliced bread, making croutons is a great way to use them up when they're too old for sandwiches. Personally though, I don't find that it gives me the texture that I look for in croutons so I'd sooner make them into french toast than croutons. But if you're making French Toast, might I suggest challah bread instead? They will be delicious!
Homemade Croutons
Ingredients:
- 1/2 to 1 whole French baguette, sliced into cubes
- 2T to 5T melted butter
- 2t to 4t garlic salt (salt, garlic powder, parsley flakes)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.2. Melt butter and pour over sliced bread, tossing to coat all pieces.3. Sprinkle 2t garlic salt over buttered bread pieces. Toss lightly and add more garlic powder, salt or dried herbs as desired.4. Put ingredients on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, turn pieces and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until pieces have become dry and toasted, a golden brown color.5. Cool completely before storing in a lidded container.
Comments
Post a Comment