Get the most out of your bread loaves, sliced bread and buns by making homemade bread crumbs instead of tossing them away.
You wouldn’t think bread crumbs would come in handy as much as they do. But only quick look through our posted recipes, we see bread crumbs are used in several homestyle food recipes such as this crispy chicken strips recipe and frozen perogies with bread crumbs.
Like most prepared things, buying store-bought bread crumbs is expensive. Making homemade bread crumbs is one option for reducing the cost of groceries while also using up the items you have already in the kitchen.
The difference between regular bread crumbs and panko bread crumbs
Regular bread crumbs are made from a mix of breads with the crusts lft on. The crust helps to give the bread crumbs the beautiful color variation. Additionally, regular bread crumbs have a finer, grain-line texture and appearance.
Whereas, panko bread crumbs are made using only white bread WITHOUT the crust, leaving the bread crumbs white in color. Additionally, panko bread crumbs are coarser, adding to the “crunchy” effect when using it in food recipes.
If using your own homemade white bread, you can also rest assured you know exactly what ingredients have been used to make the crumbs without any of those store-bought preservatives or additives.
How to Make Homemade Bread Crumbs
As your loaf of sliced bread, hot dog buns and burger buns start to dry out (but have not yet gone moldy) put them aside to make homemade bread crumbs. Place them in a toaster to toast and further harden the bread. You can leave it for a few days to dry out naturally before shredding into bread crumbs.
Next, there are a few different methods that’ll give you the same effect:
- Using a rolling pin
- Using a cheese grater
- Using a kitchen grinder (walnut)
1. Rolling Pin
Place the toasted, dry bread on your surface sandwiched between two layers of a clean tea towel (you can also use parchment paper). With the rolling pin, apply light pressure over the bread and roll until a fine crumb texture is achieved.
2. Cheese Grater
Alternatively, you can use a cheese grater to grate the toasted, dried bread into a fine, grain-like appearance.
3. Kitchen Grinder
Lastly, using a kitchen grinder is the best and quickest method of making homemade breadbrumbs, resulting in a consistent crumb texture.
No matter which method you use, the effect is ultimately the same or very similar.
How to Make Panko Bread Crumbs
Cut off the crusts of your white bread and leave the bread to dry naturally. DO NOT put the white bread in the toaster because this will give it color and you want it to remain white.
Using the side of the cheese grater with large holes, carefully shred the white bread into large coarse pieces. Do not over shred.
Storing Homemade Bread Crumbs
Homemade bread crumbs will last for 3 months in an airtight jar, dry location. To stay organized we labelled our jars using our Cricut Joy and we’ll also add the date to the label to keep track of expiration.
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