Making your own breadcrumbs, Croutons, & Crackers is easier than you think if you have a food dehydrator.

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Ingredients Needed:

• 1 loaf of old Bread or the equivalent to one loaf (any bread; can be frozen but I recommend that the bread be thawed before seasoning it.)

• 3/4 C Olive Oil

• Seasonings to suit your needs. Be careful not to use too much of the stronger seasonings, but make it your own with your favorite combinations. Some seasonings that I suggest are:

1. Onion Powder

2. Garlic Powder

3. Parsley

4. Oregano

5. Rosemary

6. Thyme

7. Season- All

8. Old Bay

9. Paprika

10. Curry

11. Cumin

12. Taco or Fajita Seasoning packets

13. Parmesan Cheese (fine grated)

14. Ranch Dressing seasoning packets

The seasoning possibilities are nearly endless. Just make it your own according to your dishes, needs, or taste.

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Breadcrumbs & Croutons:

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Cut old bread (can be frozen) into 1/2" - 1" cubes. You don't have to cut the crusts off because you can later use those for breadcrumbs. Put in large bowl.

Next, in a small bowl, mix together Olive Oil and seasonings.

Drizzle a little of the oil mixture over the cubes of bread and gently fold bread around the bowl.

Mix the Oil & seasonings with a spoon so the seasonings don't just settle on the bottom of the bowl, and drizzle over the bread cubes again. Fold the bread again.

Continue doing that until all of the Oil & seasonings are gone and bread cubes are saturated.

Place evenly on food dehydrator trays and let it run at least 4 hours. You can let it run longer if you want a crispier crouton. As long as you let it "cook" until the bread cubes have no moisture left in them.

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For Croutons: Carefully pick out the larger intact cubes and store in an air tight bag. If you are storing them in a canister, you still need to put them in a zip-top, air tight bag. Otherwise, the air trapped in the top of the canister will make your breadcrumbs go stale.

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For Breadcrumbs: Place what is left on the dehydrator trays into a zip-top bag. Make sure to scrape all of the crumbs into the bag too. Expell all of the air from the bag and crush by hand or gently use a rolling pin (don't crush too hard or it may tear your bag). Store in an air tight container (such as an old oat meal canister, baby formula can, coffee can, etc,) or just in a zip-top bag. 

*Need more breadcrumbs? Crush up some of those awesome Croutons you just made!

 

For Crackers: Using a rolling pin, flatten each piece of bread to about 1/4 - 1/8" thick. You may remove the crusts if you desire. I recommend using a regular loaf of bread for the Crackers. French Bread and those types of bread are too hard to flatten.

Place the flattened bread on top of foil, parchment paper, or wax paper on the counter top.

Cut into squares. The smaller the squares, the quicker they will dehydrate. 

Mix Olive Oil and seasonings in a small bowl with a silicone basting brush. A cotton basting brush will just soak up the mixture and you wont get much onto your bread.

Brush Oil & seasoning mixture onto the squares.

Place on food dehydrator trays and let "cook" for at least 3 - 4 hours. If you want a crispier cracker, cook longer. Make sure all moisture is cooked out of the crackers, ensuring the center is crispy and not still bread-like.

Remove crackers from the trays and store in a zip-top bag.

* You can use the crumbs left on the trays as breadcrumbs too!

 

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