Homemade White Breadcrumbs

Name: Homemade Breadcrumbs from White Bread - How to Make Them
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: White baguette 2 baguettes; Salt, black pepper, paprika, etc. as needed

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15 mins

Homemade or store-bought breadcrumbs are one of the simplest and most accessible coatings for frying cutlets, chops and other foods. The idea of breading is to dip the food in a fork-beaten egg and then roll it in a dry coating. That can be plain flour, dry breadcrumbs, or fairly elaborate mixtures.

Unfortunately, the plain breadcrumbs sold in shops are usually of very low quality. I suspect that in most cases they aren’t made on purpose at all, but are simply ground-up stale leftovers that stores return to the bakeries. That’s why at home we make breadcrumbs for frying cutlets or chops ourselves.

Breadcrumbs are usually made from white bread or rolls. It can be leftovers or bread bought specially for the purpose. A French baguette works very well: it’s easy to find and inexpensive. The bread must be dried completely, without letting it go moldy. It’s also important that no stale or musty taste or smell develops.

Crumbs are usually made from bread with the crust cut off. But if the crust is soft and not overbaked, you can leave it on. How fine to grind the crumbs is up to you. For cutlets and other ground-meat dishes, though, it’s better to use finer crumbs than for whole pieces of meat such as schnitzels or chops. Store the prepared breadcrumbs in a closed container in the cold, so the bread doesn’t turn rancid.

Of course, you can dry bread quickly and easily in the oven. Another option, and this is what we do, is to dry it in a no-frost refrigerator. It takes a few days, but the moisture ends up minimal. Drying at room temperature can lead to mold.

For general use, crumbs from a dried French baguette are perfect, and give the most versatile breadcrumbs. Baguettes are always around, and big supermarkets sell inexpensive ones. They are good quality, porous and airy, very easy to dry and then grind. On top of that, the top crust usually isn’t too browned, so you can leave it on. If you like, you can mix the crumbs with spices to make a seasoned breading mix.

2 ingredientsTo the recipe

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Ingredients

0.5 l

White baguette 2 baguettes
Salt, black pepper, paprika, etc. as needed

Step-by-step recipe

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To make breadcrumbs at home, don’t use sandwich bread: once dried it becomes rock hard, which makes it hard to grate, and the breading ends up made of hard grains. Fresh baguettes usually weigh 250-350 grams. By the way, you can buy them not-so-fresh, since they’ll be dried anyway.
To dry the bread well, cut it into pieces larger than a hen’s egg. It will dry evenly, which you can’t achieve by drying a whole loaf. Then, depending on what you have, you can dry the baguette in the oven. Or do as we do: put it in a plastic container without a lid and place it in a no-frost refrigerator. Most fridges are like that these days. They dry out everything inside that isn’t wrapped or bagged, even carrots and potatoes.
Small pieces of white bread usually dry in the fridge in 3-4 days. Make sure no soft part is left inside the pieces. Fully dry bread is very light and makes a slight “ringing” sound when tapped. To get uniform breadcrumbs with no waste, grind the bread in two stages. First, grate the dried baguette on a fine grater.
Take a large bowl and grate all the pieces into it one by one. If some larger bits break off, that’s fine. Next, sift the grated bread. A mesh strainer is very handy for this. Sift the crumbs thoroughly. Put all the larger bits that remain into a blender jug.
Grind the leftovers in the blender and sift the crumbs once more. This way you get good-quality, fairly uniform plain breadcrumbs. If you need finer crumbs, you can grind the finished crumbs further in the same blender until they reach the size you want. Transfer the crumbs to a jar and close it tightly with a lid. Store in the refrigerator.
As needed, take out the amount of crumbs you need and use them to bread the food you’re about to fry. It’s better to throw away any unused breading than to pour it back into the jar. Drops of moisture, egg and bits of the breaded food may remain in it.
If you like, you can mix the crumbs with spices before using. Often the spices mixed into the breading are the only flavoring in the dish. By the way, for the breading to hold well, lightly dust the food with a little plain flour before dipping it in the egg. And for a thick breading, you can dip the food in egg twice and dust it with flour before coating it with crumbs.