Croutons
Do you use croutons, that typically French trick of toasting small pieces of bread on the side to add to a recipe?
They're just delicious, but you need to know 2 or 3 things about them.
They're just delicious, but you need to know 2 or 3 things about them.
9,774 5/5 (17 reviews)
Keywords for this post:BreadCroutonsRecoveryToastedLast modified on: December 30th 2020
Croutons
Don't buy them
Commercial croutons are overpriced compared to what they cost in real life, they're generally made with industrial bread of very mediocre quality, and above all they're made with a lot of more or less dodgy stuff: lots of salt, artificial flavoring, extra fat, etc. Avoid them at all costs. Avoid at all costs.
A great way to recycle stale bread
There's no need to use fresh bread to make them; on the contrary, they're much easier to make and detail when the bread is a little dry.How to make them?
It's very simple:
- Cut one or two slices of slightly stale bread with a saw knife, ideally into 1 cm cubes. Depending on your taste, you can use only the crumb of the bread (whiter), or the crumb + crust (more color and flavor).
- In a frying pan over high heat, heat either a little olive oil or a little butter ( clarified if possible), depending on your taste.
- When it's hot, add the bread cubes all at once, stirring quickly to distribute the fat evenly.
Note that the bread cubes act like sponges, sucking up all the fat, but you mustn't add any more, as it would be sucked up again, and this time it would be too greasy.
- Brown the croutons, stirring regularly to evenly brown them.
- Season with salt and pepper at the end of cooking
Use in your chosen recipe, croutons transcend salads in particular, where they bring a contrast of crunchiness, and even of hot-cold if incorporated right out of the pan.
Possible variations:
- Rub the bread pieces with a clove of garlic or 1/2 shallot before cooking.- Instead of salt and pepper, sprinkle cooked croutons with curry powder, paprika, turmeric or other spices of your choice.
Tosum up: It's much better to make your own croutons, as they taste better and cost less.
Lasts posts
Oven height
When we put a dish or cake in the oven, we naturally tend to put it on the middle shelf, and that's what we usually do. But in some cases, this position and height can be a little tricky, so let's find out why.October 8th 20251,2365
The importance of sieving
In recipes that use a fine powder (flour, powdered sugar, etc.), you'll often see the advice to sift before using it. To sift is to pass the powder in question through a sieve (a very fine strainer) before incorporating it into your recipe. It's often advice, but is it really useful?September 3rd 20256,7693
The grease spray
As soon as you have something in a recipe that sticks to the mold, the question always arises as to how difficult it is to remove from the mold. There's nothing more frustrating than breaking your cake when unmolding it, because part of it has stuck in the mold. The classic way to avoid this is...August 26th 20256,2075
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20256,3205
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20254,4625
Other pages you may also like
Choosing a chopping board
It's a no-brainer, surely? If you want a chopping board, just find a piece of wood, and Bob's your uncle! You can happily chop away with a knife and not damage the table or worktop. But in reality, it's a bit more complicated than that. You need to be careful what you are buying, in particular the...May 8th 201250 K4.6
Cutting soft cheeses
As you may have already noticed, when you have to use a "soft" cheese in a recipe - their exact name is "soft cheese" - such as Camembert, Munster or Mont d'or, it's not easy to make anything other than thick slices.February 20th 20249,0585
The 3 kinds of meringue
Meringue – what could be simpler? Just beaten egg whites with sugar added. This makes a fairly stiff mixture which can then be cooked in a cool oven to create those lovely, light confections. But in the world of professional patisserie, meringue comes in three different kinds. Even if the...June 14th 201364 K4.5
Steam for baking bread
What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in...June 16th 2021146 K4.5
A few tips for effective kneading at home
When you have to knead dough for bread or some other recipe, you may well use a food processor or the type of machine known as a stand mixer. The best-known brands are Kenwood and KitchenAid. They are useful tools, but here are a few tips to help you get the best out of them.June 23th 2021282 K 23.7
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.