Croutonology ~ making your own Croutons is cheaper, easy and delicious

Firstly I’d like to mention another of those strange National Days – Saturday was World Naked Gardening Day. I’m sorry if you missed it but, then again, the weather wasn’t great. 

Right, to the matter in hand – croutons (it is after all Real Bread Week very soon!)

In Tesco recently I noticed little bags of Fresh Gourmet croutons for sale (I’ve seen them before, of course, but never taken any notice till now) – 75p for 28g (1 ounce). What a surprise! Apparently they contain the following ...

As, for instance, a fresh 100g loaf of Tesco’s Crusty Farmhouse is 70p you could, buying a loaf specially, make almost six times as many croutons for the same price! Your homemade croutons would be fresh and flavoured to you precise requirements without resorting to chemical and additives And it’s so very easy!

Not only that; croutons are a great way of using up crusts and ends and stale pieces of bread (which I presume you have been adding to your freezer collection) and other things too – see below.

Make your Own Croutons

Firstly, as I have said before I do hold very strong beliefs so far as croutons on concerned; which are that in almost all cases the bread or other item should be torn rather than diced. This creates a lot more little points and edges to go all crispy and they look so much prettier too. They are also best baked although frying is an alternative, more about this later.

This is what you do ...

~   Preheat oven to a medium sort of heat, say 190ºC/375ºF/170ºC fan/gas 5 (or more economically  bung them in for a few minutes whilst something else is cooking).
~   Tear (or in rare occasions cut) you croutons to the size you prefer.
~   Drizzle with a little olive (or bacon fat, or butter as appropriate) to lightly moisten, season and toss all together.
~   Spread on a baking tray and bake till crisp and golden. This doesn’t take long, 5-10 minutes, so keep an eye on them.

If you prefer to fry your croutons then treat the bread exactly the same but toss them about in a dry frying pan over medium high heat till crisp and brown. The result will not be quite so uniform or as crisp right through to the middle, you may need a little more oil and, of course, you have to be attentive, but still your croutons will be fresh and tasty and perfect for you.

Another bonus of homemade croutons is they are lovely hot, fresh from the oven, with soup and other hot dishes.

To Season Croutons

~   Salt and pepper (doh!)
~   Garlic or onion powder if you keep such things in – I don’t, but they can be useful.
~   Dried herbs
~   Spice mixes such as Mexican spice or Jerk seasoning or garam masala etc.
~   Chilli flakes - cautiously.
~   Bacon salt or other seasoned salts, eg. smoked.

Different Fats and Oils

I mostly use a light olive oil but in certain cases, such as cakes or other sweet croutons, butter is better. Or try ...

~   Bacon fat – not very good for you but delicious with cheese soups.

~   Oil mixed with something else for instance a little balsamic vinegar or chipotle paste.
~   Flavoured oils such as chilli or garlic or the oil resulting from roasting garlic  or yummy black garlic oil.

Additions to Croutons

~   Cheese is a good addition, grate some hard cheese such as Parmesan or mature Cheddar and toss it into the croutons when they are fully cooked. Pop back into the oven for 30 seconds or so melt it.
~   Stir a little soft buttery cooked onion into the bread pieces before baking.
~   Finely chopped garlic.
~   Grated lemon zest.
~   Fresh herbs.
~   Toss shredded ham or chorizo with the bread before cooking and it will go crispy too.

Alternative Bread and Cake Croutons

~   White sliced bread will make for a very crisp and fragile croutons and is one of the few ways I actually like this type of bread.
~   More solid and rustic breads make more solid and rustic croutons, delicious but need a good suck if you haven’t got your teeth in!
~   Brioche is good, use butter with it, of course.
~   Croissants are excellent because they have all sorts of crisp flakes and crevices.

~   Hot cross buns (see the photo at the top of this post) make lovely sweet spicy croutons to serve with ice cream or maybe a fruit dish. Use butter and a little soft light brown sugar.
~   Plain cake also makes lovely croutons for ice cream – butter and sugar again. (The recipes for the luscious no-churn coffee ice cream and its sauce in this picture are in my book Luscious Ice Cream without a Machine).

Ways to Use Croutons other than Soup

It is only natural to want to serve croutons with soup but thee are other ways ...

~   Make small crouton and sprinkle onto creamy pasta dishes for a lovely texture contrast, or make big flat ones and call them croûtes!

~   Add to salads and not just Caesar Salad where they are traditional.
~   Sprinkle into an omelette just before folding and serving.
~   Instead of baking or frying the croutons, pile the torn bread on top of a hot cooked pie filling and bake till crisp for a different sort of crust.

See also my post on Pangrattato - posh word for crispy, tasty breadcrumbs which are great for improving almost any meal!

Top 7 Deliciously Different Ways You can Use Up Leftover Bread

This is without me throwing away a single slice! These people are nutters.

There is so much can be done with leftover bread, it goes with almost anything! As I have mentioned before I stash all my crusts and bits and pieces in the freezer so that I always have the making of something good.

There are, of course, many well knows dishes such as bread sauce (my luxurious bread sauce recipe is here), bread pudding (both the custardy one and the manly bread pudding!) , croutons and pangrattato (posh word for crunchy breadcrumbs) so on, all great uses of spare bread but this post suggests some more unusual ideas from around the world that are well worth trying.

Pappa al Pomodoro ~ Tomato and Bread Soup from Tuscany – for 4

This is traditionally made with fresh tomatoes but canned chopped tomatoes work fine as a substitute, or use a mixture as in this case.

750g cherry tomatoes
2 or 3 thick slices of stale rustic bread - diced
60ml olive oil
1 medium onion – finely chopped
3 finely chopped garlic clove
small bunch of fresh basil – the leaves shredded, the stems coarsely chopped
1 x 390g carton or 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
(if flavoured with garlic, basil or chilli all to the better!)
250ml vegetable stock
a little great extra virgin olive oil for drizzling and/or freshly grated Parmesan

~   Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/170ºC fan/gas 5.
~   Toss the cherry tomatoes with a little of the oil season and roast in a shallow dish till starting to collapse. You can do this hours or even a day or so in advance if you happen to have the oven on for something else.
~   Gently cook the onion in the rest of the olive oil till starting to soften, then add the garlic and basil stems and cook a few minutes more.
~   Add both the chopped and the roast tomatoes and the stock and bring to a boil.
~   Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring and squashing a bit.
~   Stir in the bread and most of the basil and allow to sit of the heat for several minutes.
~   Stir the bread unto the tomatoes to form a thick porridgy situation.
~   Now it’s up to you;  leave it at that, stir more to make a silky texture, add more stock or water for a soupier consistency, taste and season.
~   Bring back up to temperature and serve drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkled with Parmesan and scattered with shredded basil (or parsley as in my photo but basil is best!)

The Tuscans also make a fine bread and tomato salad called Panzanella - see here for details.

Skordalia

This is a traditional Greek sauce, a kind of garlicky mayonnaise with the bread replacing the egg yolk. This makes 150ml.

80g of dry bread torn into pieces
1 clove of garlic – chopped
pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil

~   Soak the bread in cold water for a few minutes till saturated then squeeze out as dry as possible.
~   Crush the garlic and the salt to a paste with a pestle and mortar.
~   Work in the damp bread and stir in the vinegar.
~   Gradually, a drop at a time as with making mayonnaise, whisk in the olive oil to emulsify.

Fried Bread Curry! (aka Roti Upma)  

This really is delicious, so much nicer than I expected and now a regular for me.  The recipe for Roti Upma is here, check it out! 

Melted Onion Panade – for 4

This is also surprisingly lovely!  A kind of French onion soup / bread pudding cross! It is best made with more substantial bread rather than the soft stuff.

3 large onions
3 tbsp olive oil
350g good bread – thickly sliced
About 500ml good beef stock (or other if you prefer) – hot
200g grated cheese – I used Davidstow Cornish Crackler which is divine

~   Melt the onions in the olive oil and when utterly, utterly tender turn up the heat and stir till starting to caramelise.
~   Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4.
~   Put the bread on a baking sheet and pop in the oven for a few minutes till dried out but not taking any colour.
~   Butter a shallow ovenproof dish and lay a third of the bread slices in it. Break them if necessary to fit in neatly.
~   Spread with half the onions and sprinkle with a third of the cheese.
~   Repeat these layers, using up all the onions, the final layer should be bread sprinkled with the last of the cheese.
~   Pour over the stock, adding just enough to lift the top layer of bread so it starts to float. Do this gently so the cheese stays in place!
~   Cover the dish with a sheet of foil and bake for 45 minutes then remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes or so till the cheese is golden and delicious looking, like this ...

Curried Cashew Fritters

I invented this just after I wrote Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers  which is a shame, I would have loved to have included it!

1 medium onion – diced
½ tbsp oil
1 tsp curry paste
120g stale bread – torn into pieces, spread out and left to dry out for an hour or so (or popped in the oven for a few minutes)
up to 125 ml hot vegetable stock
as many salted cashews as you fancy and can muster – coarsely chopped

~   Fry the onion in the oil till soft and turning brown.
~   Stir in the curry paste and cook a couple of minutes till fragrant.
~   Add the bread pieces and then gradually stir in the stock.  The bread should soak up all the stock and be completely soft but with no excess liquid in the pan so don’t add it all at once, take it slowly.
~   Remove the pan from the heat, cover, cool and then chill to firm up.
~   When ready to cook add 80g coarsely chopped salted cashews (don’t add them earlier as they seem to go soggy).
~   Divide into four little cakes and fry in a little oil till hot crisp and golden.
~   Serve with a dollop of yogurt or raita and a bit of salad.

French Toast Pancakes from Leftover Bread

This is useful if you fancy French Toast but only have bitty scraps of bread, and in this case softer bread is best. Per person you need ...

1 egg
½ tbsp sugar
50ml milk or cream or a mixture
a drop of real vanilla extract
pinch of salt
40g ish of stale bread pieces

~   Whisk together all the ingredients except the bread.
~   Stir in the bread and allow to soak a few minutes.
~   Melt a little butter in a non-stick frying pan and using a slotted spoon carefully transfer the bread to the pan forming into two cakes.
~   Cook till the bottoms are firm and brown, turn very carefully and cook the other side.
~   Serve with maple syrup or whatever else takes your fancy.

Apple Cribbly

A touch of nostalgia for me here – we served this dessert in our restaurants in Cornwall in the 1980s. It is either traditional Cornish or Cornish-ish, either way it is perfect with clotted cream.

You need about equal quantities of peeled and diced apple (this is one case where I don’t recommend Bramley apples; you want them to hold their shape) and diced stale bread, nothing too substantial in this case.

~   Toss the diced apple with sugar to coat, discard any that doesn’t stick.
~   Melt a knob of batter in a frying pan, add the sugary apple and cook, stirring occasionally till it is softening and browning and oozing lovely caramelly juices.
~   Use a slotted to spoon to remove the apple from the pan and set aside.
~   Add the diced bread to the pan and cook till the juices have been absorbed and the bread is turning crisp and golden.
~   Return the apple, toss all together and serve immediately with ice cream, cream or clotted cream.

If these are just a few of the suggestions I can think of for leftover bread  don't you wonder what ideas I have for the other 450 potential leftovers in my book Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers?

Great preview here!