Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs

This may seem like a no-brainer but last night I made some breadcrumbs from scratch as I was halfway through making our dinner when I realised that I was out of them and needed them to coat the Salmon Patties I was preparing.

And they couldn't be simpler!

As we had no sandwich bread in the house, I ended up using the left over Bruschetta bread from our Saturday night get-together, and they turned out perfect. In fact any type of bread (white, wheat, sourdough, rye, etc.) can be used.

I kept the crusts on but you can remove them if you want to.
For this recipe to work, the bread in question needs to be completely dry and crusty, otherwise it will not blend and crumb properly.

Ingredients
Bread of your choosing (not stale bread as this = stale breadcrumbs)
(For added flavour see below under ‘Tips’)

If your bread is too fresh/soft, just bake fresh bread slices in a single layer in the oven on a low-medium temperature (150-180°C) for approximately 15 to 20 minutes.

At the halfway mark, turn each slice over so they dry evenly. Each slice should be crunchy and hard on both sides. Be careful not to burn them.
Remove from oven and let cool.

Tear dried bread in half and place in your food processor.

Pulse the processor until you reach the desired coarseness.

You will end up with come larger pieces and some finer ones, so what I did to make the mixture more consistent was to sieve it through a colander to trap all the bigger bits, which I then discarded.

TIPS

• Instead of breadcrumbs, you can use other dried ingredients, such as rolled oats, cornflake crumbs, polenta (cornmeal) or cooked couscous.
• Add finely grated cheese, such as parmesan or cheddar to the breadcrumbs.
• Add dried herbs, such as parsley, rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, sage and dill, to the breadcrumb mixture.
• Rub the meat in pesto before rubbing in the breadcrumbs.