Croutons
Do not underestimate how much a handful of croutons can elevate a salad or a soup. And making these at home will make you excited about bread and baguettes going stale, which is a bonus!
These disappear from the cupboard in a day.
Honestly, I’ve never had to make something again so quickly - we love them in salads and soups. The great news is that stale/dry bits of baguettes or bread (even burger or hot dog buns!) work perfectly for these, actually better than fresh bread - so you don’t have to waste any nice bread for this. And I don’t know about you, but whenever I have a baguette at home, I always find myself with a bit that goes dry before I have time to finish it all.
If you have a lot of dry or stale bread and you can’t really make it all into croutons at the same time, you can easily freeze bread (maybe slice it first so it will be easier to handle later) and just make it into croutons when you are ready. You don’t even have to defrost it first!
Croutons
Makes 1 large jar
Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 10 minutes | Rest time: 10 minutes
Half a stale baguette/some slices of bread/a couple of burger buns
A handful of parsley, fresh or dried, or other herbs like sage/thyme/a herb mix
A large splash of olive oil
A generous pinch of salt
Instructions
Preheat your oven to about 180ºC (160ºC for fan assisted ovens), about 350ºF.
Take your stale bread and rip it in to small pieces with your hands. If it’s really dry and hard to pull, you can try to slice it first to make it easier. Put the pieces on a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray. Drizzle a generous amount of salt and olive oil over, and then your dried or fresh parsley or other herbs (if fresh, chop them up fairly small). Mix everything really well with your hands and make sure it is spread out evenly on the baking tray.
Put in the middle of the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Take out and let cool in the tray. Ready to add to your salad or soup, or to be crushed and sprinkled on top of a mac’n’cheese or pasta bake!
Did you make the croutons? What did you use them for? Share on Instagram and tag @TheFromScratchBody and hashtag #TheFromScratchBody so I don’t miss it!
