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Breadcrumbs work their way into all sorts of recipes and are incredibly versatile. Why not learn to make them yourself so that you never have to buy pre-packaged again?
You can turn this into some Italian bread crumbs with some Italian Seasoning. And definitely use these bread crumbs to make some Crab Stuffed Mushrooms!
Homemade Bread Crumbs
Bread crumbs may seem like a simple thing to make, but they do require some pretty decent work to break up the bread properly, as well as requiring some good quality bread, to begin with.
It is very tempting to just buy some bread crumbs from the store and use those instead, but there is just something so delicious and homey about making bread crumbs from scratch. Even better, you can season them however you like, allowing you to make all sorts of different interesting recipes.
Homemade Bread Crumbs Ingredients
Make sure you look at the recipe card at the very bottom for the exact amounts, as there are a few fiddly ingredients here.
• Slices of white bread, or whole wheat/sourdough, as you prefer
Optional Seasonings
• Italian seasoning
• Taco seasoning
• Chili seasoning
How To Make Homemade Bread Crumbs
• Remove the crusts from the bread slices and then cut them into cubes
• Bake them at 250 Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes, stirring them occasionally until they are dry and crisp
• Remove and cool completely before pulsing them until they are totally broken apart
• Store in a closed container at room temperature for up to two weeks
How To Break the Bread Pieces Apart Properly
The trick with making bread crumbs properly is to be able to smash apart the individual pieces of bread so that they become actual crumbs.
Homemade bread crumbs have a frequent problem in that they are often not crushed properly, resulting in large shards of crispy bread that don’t cook properly, or worse, cut your gums when you eat them.
How to Use a Food Processor
The easiest and best way to break apart toasted bread into bread crumbs is to use a food processor. Make sure that you pulse them to break the bread, rather than just setting the food processor and letting it go.
If you cut it too fine, you won’t make bread crumbs, so much as bread dust, and they will cook too quickly in the oven and be basically useless for recipes.
How to Use a Rolling Pin to Make the Crumbs
For those lacking an effective food processor, or those that just want to try and make it old school, you can break the bread crumbs apart using a rolling pin.
Simply fill a Ziploc bag up with your slices of bread, seal it carefully and remove all the air. From there, you can either beat the bread with the rolling pin or try and roll it across the bagged bread, back and forth, until it breaks apart.
Make sure that you get every last bit of air out of the bag, though! If you don’t, you will probably split open one of the corners, and a bit of bread crumb will go flying everywhere.
How To Change Up the Seasonings
Seasoning your homemade bread crumb is really easy, but it first requires you to decide how you want it to taste.
For use in recipes with a more Italian theme, some added dried spices like parsley and oregano transform it into Italian seasoning.
With some cumin, cayenne, and garlic powder, it becomes taco seasoning. Or, with some extra salt, some chili powder, and onion powder, you end up with a decent chili seasoning.
If you are planning on making a big bulk of bread crumbs to keep for future recipes, make sure that you leave it unseasoned. You can always add your chosen seasoning later, mixing it into the bread crumbs with a whisk so as to suit your chosen recipe.
Looking for more delicious Bread recipes? Try these out:
Enjoy!
Love,
Karlynn
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Homemade Bread Crumbs
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Course
- Condiment
- Cuisine
- American
- Servings
- 1 cup
- Calories
- 756
- Author
- Karlynn Johnston
Ingredients
- 10-12 slices bread white, whole wheat, sourdough
Optional Seasonings
- 2-3 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2-3 teaspoons taco seasoning
- 2-3 teaspoons chili seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 250°F.
- Remove the crusts from the bread slices, then cut into cubes. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are dry and crisp.
- Remove and cool completely.
- Place in a food processor (add any spices you want at this time) and pulse until crumbs, or place in a closed bag and crush into crumbs using a rolling pin.
- Store in a closed container at room temperature for up to two weeks, or you can freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Misty White says
Hello and Happy New Year! Thank you so very much for offering a link to send your wonderful recipes you our email addresses! That’s very thoughtful and kind of you to have that option. Now I just hope you and your family enjoy the New Year and may it be much better than the last year.