Bread Crumbs - Fresh and Homemade!

There is nothing like fresh homemade bread crumbs. They are so easy to make, and will save money since store bought bread crumbs are expensive.

You can use any type of bread (I like a mixture of white, wheat, sourdough, etc), whatever flavour will work best with your recipe. I love to combining different breads; I think it makes the taste more interesting and diverse.

Don't use old stale bread. Think about it, stale bread will make stale tasting breadcrumbs.

I purchase good quality bread from the 1 or 2 day old bin the bakery puts on sale. Tip: if the bread is too fresh, just bake fresh bread slices in a low oven a oven until slightly dry.

If you are planning on making a big batch, just store your bread in pieces, in a large resealable plastic bag in the freezer until you are ready to make your homemade bread crumbs.

Tear dried bread into smaller pieces and place in your food processor or blender.

Whirl until desired coarseness.

TIP: Grind to a coarse texture, that way if you finer crumbs, you can just regrind the amount needed.

If you don't have a supply of homemade bread crumbs in your freezer, and you need a small amount for your recipe:

Use 1 or 2 slices of bread.

Dry in oven (low heat).

Place dry bread slices in a re-sealable plastic bag, and using your rolling pin or a large drinking glass, roll over the top of the plastic bag and crush bread until desired coarseness.

Done!

Refrigerator

Store the same you would fresh bread.

If you do not keep your bread crumbs properly, they will dry out and become stale or worse, moldy in a damp environment.

Add homemade bread crumbs into a freezer bag (remove the excess air from the bag before sealing) or air tight jar.

Do not store the container of bread crumbs in the refrigerator for more than one week.

Freezer

For long term storage, add homemade bread crumbs into a freezer bag, remove the excess air from the bag, and seal.

They would probably keep up to a year, although I wouldn't keep them longer than 6 months.

Tips

If breadcrumbs develop a strange odour, flavour or appearance, throw them out (for quality).

If mould appears, immediately discard them (for safety).

Panko is a variety of flaky bread crumb used in Japanese cuisine as a crunchy coating for fried foods.

Panko is the Japanese word for bread, usually made from bread without crusts, and it has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found in Western cuisine.

The bread is processed in such a way that the resulting panko looks like flakes rather than crumbs. The flakiness means a much broader surface area than regular breadcrumbs. What this means for your cooking is crispier coatings, crunchier toppings and lighter end-products, depending on how you use the panko.

There are two types of Panko crumbs available:

- White Panko is made without the bread crusts
- Tan Panko is made with the whole loaf bread, and includes the crust