How to Make Croutons |Cooking With Amanda

Thursday, July 30, 2015

How to Make Croutons

1. You're going to want to make sure you start with good quality bread when you're making homemade croutons.

A nice store-bought baguette or sourdough bread works great as does leftover homemade bread that may have gotten a little too dry a little too fast

2. The size you cut the bread into really depends on your personal preference, but I recommend 3/4 – 1 inch sized cubes of bread.

Don't worry if the cubes aren't all 100% uniform in shape as long as they are pretty close to the same size. You don't want to end up with a portion of your croutons over or under cooked.

3. Place the cubes in a large, wide bowl and drizzle them with olive oil or butter. You'll use about 1-2 tablespoons of melted butter or olive oil for each 2 cups of bread cubes. Toss the bread evenly to coat.

4. You can choose to keep it simple and head straight to step 4, especially if you started with bread that already has a lot of flavor (such as a parmesan herb bread).

If you'd like to take it up a notch, go ahead and add some seasonings to your bread cubes. You might like just a simple salt and pepper or something stronger like garlic powder, onion powder, fresh herbs (thyme or rosemary are great), or dried herbs (basil or Italian seasoning are great).

5. Spread the bread cubes out evenly on a large baking sheet. There should be plenty of space so the cubes aren't too close together or piled up on each other.

6. Bake the prepared bread cubes in a preheated 375°F oven for 10 – 20 minutes (until they reach your desired crunchiness) , stirring every 5 minutes. Make sure you keep at eye on things because all ovens behave differently.

Alternatively you can toast in a toaster oven.
I like them a little crunchier for use in soup since they will soak up a lot of liquid. Less crunchy croutons become soggy faster.

7. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container to maintain freshness and crunch.