Soft Bread Crumbs Recipes

Steps:

• There is a real advantage to making bread crumbs instead of using pre-packaged ones, with their unpleasant preserved taste. Full tasting bread, like a sourdough or herbed bread makes for delicious crumbs. When made from fresh bread the crumbs absorb less fat or liquid than a dry crumb, making them ideal for topping off gratins, or breading meat and fish when frying. Dry crumbs are better suited for stuffings since they absorb moisture just like a sponge. Most breads can be turned into bread crumbs by simply grinding them in a food processor. Trimming crusts makes for a more delicate crumb and for very fine crumbs, strain them through a fine-mesh sieve. Store bread crumbs in a tightly sealed plastic bag in the freezer.

Steps:

• Tear 1 small roll or 1 slice of bread at a time into a blender.
• Cover. Turn blender on and off repeatedly until bread is torn into light, uniform crumbs.
• Or put bread on a cutting board and use fork tines to tear off crumbs.
• Put crumbs into a plastic bag and toss to mix.
• Press air from bag; close and freeze.
• One (1-ounce) bread slice makes about 1/2 cup lightly packed crumbs.
• Dry Breadcrumbs:.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 degrees Celsius).
• Spread soft bread crumbs in a thin layer on a shallow baking sheet.
• Dry in oven 30 minutes.
• Cool.
• Spread crumbs out in an open plastic bag; crush with a rolling pin.
• 1/2 cup lightly packed soft breadcrumbs makes about 3 tablespoons fine dry breadcrumbs.

Steps:

• Melt butter in a small skillet over medium low heat. As soon as butter is melted and frothy, stir in breadcrumbs. Continue stirring until crumbs are evenly crisp and golden brown.
• If using any of the above mentioned variations add to the finshed buttered breadcrumbs.

Steps:

• To make fresh breadcrumbs, tear the bread into pieces and drop into a food processor fitted with a blade attachment. Pulse until you have breadcrumbs of the size you want. If you want to make very even breadcrumbs, push them through a coarse sieve. Will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
• To make dried breadcrumbs, tear the bread into pieces and bake in a low oven until the pieces are completely dried out. Pulse in a food processor as before. Will keep chilled for up to two months, or frozen for six months.