Homemade Breadcrumbs

Sense of Home Kitchen

So I was sitting on my couch flipping through a few of my cookbooks, looking for inspiration, when I came across a recipe that caught my attention.  I quickly started making a list of fresh vegetables and herbs I would need to pick up at the store, but when I added breadcrumbs to the list I realized just how silly it is to purchase breadcrumbs when there is dried out bread sitting right in my kitchen.  Making your own breadcrumbs is very easy and only takes a few minutes.  If you have bread that is starting to dry, a food processor and an oven you are in business, you can even make do without the food processor.

The recipe I was working on was better with moist breadcrumbs, some recipes need dry crumbs.  I used the moist, fresh breadcrumbs in the dish I was making and dried what was left over in the oven so they would keep longer.  I will use these dry crumbs in the next week or two, perhaps to coat chicken for a spicy-sweet chicken recipe that has no name.  I dip boneless chicken pieces into flour, then egg, then bread crumbs, then fry it in hot oil.  Once the chicken has drained on a paper towel, I discard the used oil, wipe out the pan and put the fried chicken back in with a bottle of this Sweet Chili Sauce and let it simmer for anywhere from five to ten minutes, until everything is heated through and the sauce is thick and sticky.  The end result is similar to the General Tso's Chicken that we have ordered in Chinese restaurants; mmm, so good.

Homemade Breadcrumbs
~Sense of Home Kitchen~


Ingredients:
Day old or stale bread

Preparation:
Cut bread into 1/2 to 1 inch cubes.  Process in a food processor until coarse crumbs form.  These fresh bread crumbs can be used in meat loaf, meatballs, stuffed mushrooms...you get the idea.

For Dry Breadcrumbs:
Spread the crumbs on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 300° F. for 5 minutes, give the crumbs a little stir and put back in oven for approximately 5 minutes more or until brown and crisp.  Dry breadcrumbs can be ground finer and used as a coating for frying chicken, zucchini, fish, crab cakes, you name it.  They can be left chunkier and sprinkled on pasta, artichokes, or sautéed greens.

Store:
Dried breadcrumbs can be stored in an airtight container for 1 month.

Variations:
Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil over the crumbs before toasting them and season as you wish with fresh herbs, Parmesan, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, or crushed garlic and then toast in oven.


Sense of Home Kitchen / Recipes / Basics