How to Make Homemade Italian Seasoned Dry Bread Crumbs

Three times a year my mother and I get together and make big batches of homemade Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs. Throughout the year we freeze all of our bread that is starting to get stale, left-over crusts from bread, dinner rolls, hamburger buns, hotdog buns, English muffins, and even bagels! Once we both have accumulated a large stock of frozen leftover bread products we get together for our bread crumb making party!

I’m going to share with you how we make our own homemade Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs. I pick up the bottls of Italian Seasoning at my local grocery store. You should be able to find it in the spice aisle. It’s a combination of different herbs and spices.

Food Dehydrator
Italian Seasoning
Salt and Black Ground Pepper
Bread, Rolls, Buns, Bagels
Blender
Sharp Bread Knife and Cutting Board
Plastic Containers or Mason Jars
Large Plastic Spoon and Ladle
Funnel

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 three-quarters of the way full with the bread pieces. Blend until you get the consistency of fine or chunky dry bread crumbs. We like our’s fine.

Pour into a large bowl. Repeat this process until you have all of the crumbs made. Next is the seasoning. I don’t use exact measurements because I never know how much bread crumbs I’ll have. So, basically measure out your Italian Seasoning by the tablespoon and stir it into the crumb mixture. Most of the times I use at least half of the bottle. You should see a good amount of the green flakes distributed throughout the crumb mixture. Next you want to add a little salt and ground black pepper. Again, I don’t use exact measurements but on average I add a teaspoon of salt and a 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper. Stir until everything is combined.

I like to store them in glass mason jars or recycled plastic food jars. I use a wide mouth funnel and pour the mixture into the containers. Fill them up! You can also use plastic food storage bags, purge out the air and zip close. Label and date.

They will keep on your pantry shelf for 6 months to a year. Use them when making breaded chicken, onion rings, fried mushrooms, as a coating on fish, etc. Very versatile and can be used in oodles of different recipes.

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