How to Make Homemade Seasoned Dry Bread Crumbs
Twice a year my mother and I get together and make big batches of homemade seasoned dry bread crumbs. Throughout the year we freeze all of our bread that is starting to get stale, left-over crusts from bread, rolls and even bagels! On top of that…one of our local bakery outlets will put day old bread & rolls on clearance and we pick those up too! Once we both have accumulated a large stock of frozen leftover bread…we get together for our bi-annual bread crumb making party!
Today…I’m going to share with you how we make our own homemade seasoned dry bread crumbs. Here is what you’ll need to get started.
Food Dehydrator
Seasonings
Bread, Rolls, Bagels
Blender
Sharp Bread Knife and Cutting Board
Plastic Containers or Mason Jars
Large Plastic Spoon and Ladle
I use a 5-tray food dehydrator from Ronco that I picked up at the Flea Market a few years ago for $2.00. Plug it in and set it on low. You can lay single slices of bread directly on the trays. I advise you to rip a part your artisan breads and rolls or cut them into small pieces or slices.
Lay all of your slices and pieces onto the trays in a single layer. You want to allow a little bit of space between them all so that the hot air will circulate around them. Stack the trays onto one another, open the vents on your lid and walk away.
Your bread & rolls need to completely dry out…absolutely NO moisture left in them. This process for me takes 6-8 hours, so try doing this before you go to bed or first thing when you get up in the morning. Once your bread is completed dried out…move on to the next steps.
I remove the pieces from the tray and smash them up with my hands & fingers and place them into a large bowl. I like my pieces to be less than 2″ in size before I put them into my blender. I then fill my blender container halfway full with the bread pieces.
Before I turn the blender on…I like to add my dry seasonings/spices. Everyone has their own taste preferences but I like to add the following per blender batch:
1/2 tsp. Spike 5 Herb Seasoning
1/2 tsp. Dried Oregano
1/2 tsp. Dried Basil Leaves
1/2 tsp. Dried Parsley
1/4 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
Turn your blender on medium and blend until all of your bread chunks are the consistency of coarse or fine bread crumbs. We like our’s of a fine consistency which is perfect for using in most of my recipes. Once done…pour them into a large plastic container and repeat until all of your bread is done.
I then use a ladle and ladle my seasoned dry bread crumbs into quart-size mason jars. You’ll want to use a Wide Mouth Funnel to keep things mess-free! Place the lids on top and label them. They will keep for a year if you properly store them. You can also store them in plastic food-safe containers too!
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That’s it! It’s really easy to make your own homemade bread crumbs and it’s a great way to use up all of that stale bread that you would normally pitch out. I just use large plastic freezer bags to hold it all until I have enough to process into bread crumbs.
