Up until this point, we (the Lewis household) have been fairly lazy when it came to croutons. Normally I buy them bulk from Winco on my once- or twice-a-year excursions into the city to stock up on bulk items from the big box stores. Well, stocking up on bulk items is pricey, and since February's job loss, we just don't want to spend the money.
But we were out of croutons, so Don took it upon himself to make some. They're easy-peasey to make, so I don't know why it never occurred to us to do this earlier. Go figure.
Anyway, when he's ready to make a batch, Don asks me to make a loaf of French bread (which I do with the bread machine).
He lets the loaf sit for a couple of days to "harden up," then cuts it into roughly one-inch cubes.
These are his ingredients: Olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Parmesan cheese.
He mixes everything together...
...and adds it to the bread cubes.
Adding the oil mixture to the bread cubes is a patient process. He drizzles a little over the top, then tosses the cubes to bring up the bottom cubes. Drizzle, toss. Drizzle, toss. Rotate the bowl. Drizzle, toss. He goes through this process about six times until the mixture is used up.
Then he spreads the bread cubes on cookie sheets...
...and bakes them at 375F for 13 to 15 minutes (or until slightly browned).
He lets the croutons cool completely, then bags and freezes them.
One loaf makes about 1.75 lbs. of croutons.
In theory – in theory, mind you – croutons are for salads and other savory dishes. In reality, however, these have become our New Favorite Snack. Seriously, we'll decant a small bowlful from the freezer bag and crunch on them by themselves. They are ridiculously delicious.
Speaking of crunching, Don crunched the numbers and compared homemade croutons with store-bought ones, keeping in mind we buy all ingredients in bulk. The homemade ones are about half the cost of bulk store-bought croutons – and twice as good.
Here's the recipe he uses. Since one loaf of our homemade bread makes about 12 cups of cubes, he quadruples the recipe. (He also doubles the amount of garlic, 'cuz we love garlic.)
I don't know why it took us so long to make our own, but there you go. Seriously, we're never going back to store-bought croutons ever again.
