After spending most every morning for the past six months in the garden, I was rather excited yesterday to have a day in the kitchen. Too excited. In addition to making bread, I took on a few other challenges. I had too many irons in the fire. I put the formed loaves of bread dough in the oven to rise. Unfortunately, I hadn’t allowed the oven to cool enough from the previous bake job. The dough didn’t rise much as it should have. It was barely acceptable. But around here, that’s not good enough, and so no one will eat more than a slice or two. The bread will just be wasted.
Unfortunately, we are entering times when we will truly not be able to afford to waste food. And while the dogs are always happy to take a failed loaf off my hands, and they never turn their noses up at it, I understand not everyone has such self-sacrificing dogs. We’ve got to have ways of not wasting our recipe failures. Homemade bread crumbs are one great way to deal with a failed loaf of bread.
Soft Bread Crumbs
1 slice or roll of bread
Tear into small pieces. Add the bread pieces to the bowl of a food processor with the chopping blade. Pulse repeatedly until the bread is torn into tiny crumbs. Alternatively, put the slice or roll on a cutting board and use a fork to tear off tiny crumbs. If not using immediately, store in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to use. One slice yields about ½ cup of soft bread crumbs.
Dry Bread Crumbs
To prepare bread crumbs, place thinly sliced bread on a cookie sheet and bake at 225°F for about 30 minutes, turning once halfway through. Process dried slices in a food processor. Return the crumbs to the cookie sheet and bake for another 30 minutes. Let cool.
Italian Bread Crumbs
3 3/4 cups dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons parsley flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon oregano
Combine all ingredients in an airtight container.
Panko Bread Crumbs
1 loaf of white bread (or saltine or oyster crackers)
Push the white bread through the shredding disk of a food processor to yield coarse crumbs. Spread the bread crumbs on a cookie sheet and bake at 300°F for 6-8 minutes, until the crumbs are dry but not toasted. You do not want them to brown. Remove from oven and let cool. When completely cooled, store in an airtight container.
