Bread crumbs give your food a little extra crunch. They are great topped on a casserole, for breading chicken or fish, and over baked pasta. Here is my version of easy to make Homemade Bread Crumbs.
I started making my own bread crumbs when I felt bad that I was wasting the dry rubbery ends of store bought bread loaves. They have no taste and are not even worth the peanut butter that would get put on them. I felt wasteful throwing them away, so I decided to wrap them up and save them in my freezer. I collect a few, like 8 or so, then turn them into bread crumbs for recipes.
You can do this 2 ways. If you dry out or toast your bread first, you can put them into a plastic bag and crush them with your hands or a rolling pin. For my way, I will show you how to make the crumbs first in my blender (or food processor) then get to the toasting.
I tear up two pieces of bread at a time and place them in my blender. Give it a blend, until they are small and crumbly. Then place them onto a baking pan. Finish blending all the bread slices you have and spread them all onto a baking pan.
Turn your oven to 200* and bake the bread crumbs until crispy. I had them in the oven for 1 hour and fluffed them up with a spatula about every 20 minutes of so. I took them out and let them cool. You can place them back into the blender one more time to get a finer consistency.
I place these toasted bread crumbs into a freezer bag and can have them at the ready whenever they are called for in a recipe.
Here are a few yummy recipes that call for Bread Crumbs:
Martha’s Turkey Tetrazzini I have made this and it is delicious.
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I do my own too. I toast my bread first in a toaster (so quick) and then whizz up in a blender with a bit of seasoning and then into the freezer!
I just used my Bread Crumbs last night in a Meatloaf recipe. Here is the link, it was really good meatloaf.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Meatloaf/Detail.aspx
This is such a great idea! I have always wondered what to do with those ends…Thanks!
if you think breadcrumbs are good, you should try homemade croutons. i am always making these according to what kind of bread/cornbread/bagel etc. i have leftover and what kind of meal i am wanting to accent. chop and spread on a cookiesheet, sprinkle on olive oil and lots of herbs and s&p, can even add honey, basalmic etc. again, i usually make these with yesterday’s leftovers to enhance today’s meal. they’re great in salad of course, but awesome in soup and even good on pasta.
bake on high heat and stir occaisionally
Lama – I love homemade croutons. I forget to make them, so this was a good reminder. They are super yummy in a Caesar salad!
Super idea! We always end up throuwing out the heels – the ducks and geese can only eat so much.
What a great idea. Can’t wait to try it
You can also tear the bread into small chunks and air dry them in a pie pan in the cupboard. Once dried out, they are very easy to turn into bread crumbs.
excellent!
Thanks for bailing me out.
Dave
Thanks so much for this! I just bought my very last container of quickie storebought breadcrumbs. Ugh.
I gather up all the bread ends that family wont eat and the end of the week, throw them in oven at 250 for 30 mins, turn and give them another 30 mins with a shot at 400 for 5 mins to slightly brown, cool – throw them in food processor with some Parmesan, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper. Couple seconds in the processor – put them in freezer bag – have bread crumbs better than store bought in constant supply ..
I am always throwing away bread as there are only two people in my home. Whether it be left over french loaf, bread slices or biscuits. I decided to find a recipe to make bread crumbs instead of wasting everything. I found yours and love it, so quick and easy. I will never throw bread away again and will never again have to buy packaged breadcrumbs! Thanks. Now I just have to find the best way of storing them all…thinking of canning them.
Okay, this may be a dumb question but, do you defrost the bread before you put it in the blender?
Sheila – Actually, that’s a great question, I don’t think I talked about that did I? No I don’t. I just thaw it enough (a few minutes) to where I can break it up and toss it in the blender. Thanks for asking!! Have fun baking.
Hello! I lost the temps for my old recipe on how to make these and yours was one of the only ones that had a temperature for it! Thank you so much for sharing this! =:D I love your site!
~Rachel~
Thanks for your tip. I have a question. I need to make cinnamon toasted bread crumbs. Could I do the same thing and add cinnamon?
Saira – That’s a good question. I’m sure you could. I would think you could add the cinnamon to it before you toast it. If you try it, let me know how it goes!