Make Your Own: Bread Crumbs

Making your own bread crumbs is simple and easy, and is a great starter task if you're looking at making your own pantry staples to save money on your grocery bill. This recipe yields about one cup of fine bread crumbs. I've never bought Panko bread crumbs, so I'm not sure if the are that fine.




Ingredients:
Six slices of bread, sliced 1/2 inch thick (you can use home made bread or store bought)


Tear or cut the bread crumbs into approximately 1 inch cubes. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Stir around, trying to turn them over. Bake another 10-15 minutes. Run them through your food processor on pulse until you have bread crumbs. If you don't have a food processor, you can run them through a sieve, although that takes much more time.

When I make these, I usually make enough for ten or fifteen cups of bread crumbs. As long as you're completely sure that the bread crumbs are completely dry, you can store them in the pantry. Otherwise, store them in the freezer. I save the heels of all of the bread we make or buy or any that has gone stale (but not moldy), and use half of them to either make stuffing or bread crumbs. The chickens get the other half. I've also used leftover hamburger or hot dog buns, and they worked just fine.

What I love about these bread crumbs is that I am using something that most people would just throw away. No one likes to eat the heels, but this way they are getting used!