Homemade or Store Bought Croutons-I’m Torn
When I am shopping at the grocery store, I usually throw a bag of croutons into my cart. Even though they kinda taste like salted cardboard, sheer laziness and convenience prevail. Tired of bagged croutons, I finally decided to make my own croutons, how hard could it be? Isn’t it like glorified toast in bite-sized pieces? Ok, it’s a bit more involved than toast but still pretty easy.
A Pinch of Yumminess
I googled croutons and a bunch of recipes popped up. I narrowed the field down to one on A Pinch of Yum’s site, Torn Croutons. Homemade delicious croutons that you can keep on hand to toss in a salad, a mug of soup, or to eat out of hand. It is so incredibly easy and so much better than store-bought, you’re going to thank me. BONUS, it’s a great way to use up that half a baguette, or ciabatta loaf you didn’t finish. Yep, easy and economical.
The recipe calls for sourdough bread but use any bread you like. I like ciabatta but have also used baguettes or rustic Italian, just about any crusty artisan-type bread will work.
Tearing the bread, not cubing it into bite-sized pieces gives the bread these nooks and crannies to catch the seasonings and oil. After baking, you end up with these crispy shards of bread.
The recipe calls for minced garlic, salt, and pepper, that’s it. Feel free to add herbs or seasonings such as minced thyme or rosemary. For the oil, substitute melted butter for some of the oil, cause who doesn’t like buttery croutons?
Whisk the melted butter and olive oil in a bowl. Add salt, pepper, and garlic. Finish with a couple of healthy grinds of black pepper. Drizzle over torn bread. Mix to coat, and spread the croutons on a sheet pan in a single layer. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. Store in an airtight container.
That’s it, you’re done. Enjoy.
Hand Torn Croutons
Ingredients
- 1/2 loaf regular of sourdough bread ( 3/4-1 pound loaf) any kind of rustic loaf will work, I like Ciabatta or Pugliese
- 1/4-1/3 cup olive oil 60ml
- 2 tbs unsalted butter, melted 30ml
- 1 clove garlic finely grated
- salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1-2 tsp herb of choice, minced thyme or rosemary optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pull the bread into crouton-y sized chunks.
- Combine the olive oil, butter, and garlic in a large bowl. Add optional seasonings now if using. Whisk to combine. Add bread and toss croutons to work the oil in (some of the bread might crumble into tiny pieces which provides great texture variety). Season with salt and lots of pepper.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, turning once so they get evenly browned. Cool on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
- Don't just use them for salads, great on soups, or as munchies. Crumble them on pastas
