Make Your Own Croutons

Making your own croutons is not hard at all.  I usually use dried out bread to make French Toast, but when I have pumpernickel bread (given to me by a friend), I like to make croutons. I don't think pumpernickel bread would taste too good as french toast but who knows. I've just never tried it. lol I also make croutons from the regular wheat bread I make as well.  I just happened to have pumpernickel bread this day that needed to be "made" into something else.  This also works great to use up bread ends. Just save the ends in a bag in the freezer until you have enough to justify making croutons.

To make the croutons, begin by slicing the bread... in the thickness you desire. Be sure to protect your countertop by using a cutting board or butcher block.

After you have sliced the bread, you are going to turn the strips and chop it into bite size pieces.  Be sure to keep your fingers out of the way of the knife blade!

This is a few of the cubed pieces of bread in my bowl.  They are a little bigger than the store bought ones because sometimes I will use my homemade croutons when I make stuffing.

Before you go to the next step, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

While you are cubing the last few pieces,  melt a little butter in a bowl or sauce pan and mix in any herbs you wish (garlic, Italian seasoning, etc.) to add to the croutons. Once the butter mixture is melted, carefully pour it over your croutons and stir to coat them.

The remaining couple of pictures were missing from my camera card so I apologize in advance. Just try to visualize these next few steps, if you will.

After you have coated the cubes evenly, spread them out onto a shallow baking pan or cookie sheet in a single layer.  

Bake at 325 degrees until the cubes are toasted lightly and are dried out (about 15 minutes).

Allow to cool and store in a sealed container or zipped bag until you are ready to dress up your salad with them or your favorite bowl of soup.  You can also toss croutons in the blender to make flavored bread crumbs in a pinch.

Enjoy!