You purchased or made a loaf of bread, but life happened, and now the bread is becoming old and stale.
Don’t toss it! Instead, consider how you can repurpose the bread before it begins to grow a weird green film which resembles a science project.
If you’ve been in this place before, you may have found yourself wondering what to do with the bread. Any time I have bread getting old and hard, I make two things: croutons and breadcrumbs.
They’re extremely easy to make, we use them, and it saves me money in the process. Curious how you can transform your (almost) wasted loaf of bread?
Then follow these steps:
How to Make Croutons
You’ll need:
- ½ Loaf of old bread (6 cups)
- Bread knife
- Cookie sheet
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon of minced dried onion
- 2 teaspoons of dried chives
- 2 teaspoons of dried ground sage
- 4 tablespoons of oil of choice
1. Slice the Bread
I like to stretch my day-old bread. Therefore, I’ll use half the loaf to make bread crumbs and the other half to make croutons.
If you use the croutons more than bread crumbs, go ahead and double up on the spices and use the entire loaf.
Begin the process of making croutons by slicing the loaf. Stack the slices on top of one another and begin to cut them vertically.
Once you have the vertical pieces, slice a few on top of each other and cut them horizontally. This is an easy and quick way to make bread cubes.
I like bigger croutons because I enjoy them as a snack or for them to give my salad a nice crunch-factor. If you prefer smaller croutons, cut the cubes in half until they reach your desired size.
2. Preheat the oven
After you finish cubing the bread, turn your oven to 400° Fahrenheit and begin the preheating process.
At the same time, pull out an old cookie sheet. The croutons will be baked on this, and you can also use the sheet to apply the spices as well.
When you have the oven preheating and the cookie sheet in sight, place the bread cubes on the cookie sheet in an even layer with adequate spacing.
3. Spread the Flavor
Once the bread cubes are on the cookie sheet, drizzling your oil of choice over them. I like to use vegetable oil because it’s inexpensive, but any cooking oil would work.
I pour the oil in a small cream pitcher to have more control over how much and where the oil is poured.
You don’t want the cubes drenched, but you do want each cube to have a small coat of oil on them.
After the oil is applied, sprinkle the different spices onto the bread cubes. Make sure you distribute them as evenly as possible.
You may want to play around with the spices a little to make them suit your taste. I’m a big fan of garlic, but you may not be.
If this is the case, you may want to back off on the amount of garlic applied to the croutons.
However, you may prefer stronger flavors of other spices listed. In this case, add more. Customizing your croutons is the great thing about making croutons at home.
4. Bake
After the croutons have been coated with oil and sprinkled with seasoning, place them in the oven. They should bake at 400° Fahrenheit for approximately 10 minutes.
Keep an eye on them. I put my croutons on the baking rack closer to the top burner. If you put them in the middle, they may require more time.
When they become a golden brown, remove them from the oven.
5. Cool and Enjoy
Place the cookie sheet on a heat-resistant surface to allow the croutons time to cool.
Once they’ve cooled, you can eat them immediately or store them in an air-tight container or bag until later use.
In my household, my kids swear these croutons are better than potato chips. So if I want any left for a salad, later on, I have to hide them in a bag before I let the kids know they’re done or all the croutons would be gone.
They’re addicting and delicious!
How to Make Breadcrumbs
You’ll need:
- ½ loaf of day-old bread
- Food processor
- 1 teaspoon dried minced onion
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons salt and pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried chives
- 1 teaspoon dried ground sage
1. Cube the Bread
Making bread crumbs is a quick process, but it can save you a great deal of money. When I go to the grocery store to purchase bread crumbs, a can of them costs around $2.00.
However, when you see how quick and easy it is to make (plus it keeps you from wasting food), it makes no sense to purchase them when they can be homemade.
Begin by cubing the bread. Use the same process as you did for the croutons. I usually chop the bread roughly when I’m making bread crumbs because no one sees how they’re cut anyway by the end of the process.
A half-loaf of my homemade day-old bread usually makes around six cups of cubed bread. You may have more or less depending upon the size of your loaf.
Adjust the recipe accordingly based upon how many cups of cubed bread you make.
2. Add the Spices
When the bread has been cubed, place the cubes inside your food processor. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may have to process the bread crumbs in batches.
This is fine. Be sure to distribute the spices as equally as possible. If you can’t, don’t worry because the breadcrumbs will be all mixed at the end of the process.
3. Process
Once the bread cubes have made their way into the food processor and have been seasoned, use the pulse option on your food processor.
You want the cubes to be evenly cut until they become crumbs. Be sure you don’t have any large pieces of bread cubes left in the processor.
Keep hitting the pulse button until every cube has been cut down to the appropriate size. When this happens, stop pulsing.
4. Store and Use
Take the lid off the food processor and pour the breadcrumbs into a bowl. If you had to make the breadcrumbs in batches, continue with the process until all of your cubes and spices have been turned into breadcrumbs.
Keep pouring the crumbs into the bowl. When all of the breadcrumbs are in the bowl, use clean hands or a fork to gently toss the bread crumbs together to make sure all the flavor is equally distributed.
You can store the breadcrumbs in an air-tight container or plastic bag until you’re ready to use it.
I use breadcrumbs in my meatloaf, to top macaroni and cheese, and also when frying certain foods such as fried green tomatoes.
They’re a handy kitchen staple to have on hand and a great way to keep your bread from going to waste.
You now have two different options for utilizing your old bread. They should help add more flavor to your basic foods and help you save money too.
Hopefully you’ll enjoy these recipes as much as my family does. Who knows? Croutons could become your new potato chips too!
