This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
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.
9,799 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 20251,3345
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 20256,8293
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 20256,2685
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 20256,3765
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 20254,5115
Other pages you may also like
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
The peak of the apple season
As I write these lines, we are in the middle of the apple season, and it's an apple year, as you may have noticed if you have apple trees around you, they are bursting with fruit! Excellent news for the people in the west of France in particular, but let's have a little thought for those in the...October 23th 20218,9295
A memo of utensil weights
You will no doubt have come across this problem while cooking: after starting a recipe, when you already have some ingredients in a pan and have maybe cooked them, you need to know the weight of the pan's contents so that you can take half out, or add the same weight of sugar, for example.May 9th 201128 K4.6
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 23.8
Foie gras service
For the upcoming christmas meals you too may be sacrificing to the tradition of foie gras? If so, I suggest you take a look at everything that revolves around serving foie gras: how to serve it, and what to eat and drink with it.December 23th 201715 K4.9
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.