You will never regret taking that left over bakery bread and making homemade buttery garlic croutons out of them !
There is a WORLD of difference between those stale croutons you get in a bag at the grocery store and homemade ones. I implore you to make your own and you will see the difference.
There are many recipes available with instructions on how to make your own croutons. Two of the most common ways are to either bake them or fry them.
I’ve experimented with both, and to be honest, I like the stovetop way better. That is just personal preference but you will need to be patient as they really don’t take any less time then baking and you need to be careful they don’t burn.
If baking is more your thing then by all means use that method. Really, there is no wrong way to make croutons.
Your croutons are only as good as the bread you are working with. The bread needs to be a little stale, day old bakery bread works well.
I do not encourage the use of store bought bread (for many reasons) but specifically for making croutons, the bread takes too long to dry out due to the preservatives.
Before throwing away stale bread from the bakery, try making croutons or breadcrumbs instead. It costs very little to do so, and they are soooo much better then store bought!
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Whole Wheat Buttery Garlic Croutons
Ingredients
- 4 Slices Whole Wheat Italian Bread, crusts removed
- 2 Cloves Whole Cloves of Garlic, peeled
- 3–4 Tablespoons Butter
- Sprinkle of Sea Salt
Instructions
- Melt the butter, along with the peeled garlic, in a large sauté pan.
- When the butter is melted, add the bread and toss quickly so each piece gets a little butter and garlic on it.
- Sprinkle a little sea salt over the bread.
- Sauté, stirring occasionally until golden brown.
- Allow the croutons to cool on a paper towel and discard the garlic.
These look great! Do you need to make them on the day they will be used, or can you make them a few days ahead of time?
either way works Nina. They will get crispier as they dry out however