Homemade Croutons

A crouton is a magical salad garnish made of crusty bread and flavored with seasoning.  I can only imagine that the crouton was born out of the desire to cut down on waste and re-purpose foods that were about to go bad.

These days, many people buy their croutons from the grocery store.  They come in a bag and are full of preservatives.  The ironic thing is that fresh croutons don’t have the preservatives, and they taste so much better!  If you’ve never had a fresh, homemade crouton, you need to stop what you’re doing, right now, and go make a batch.  Once you do, it will be hard to eat store-bought croutons ever again.  A homemade crouton is crunchy but chewy at the same time.  It’s flavorful and crispy.  It’s hard not to stand over the baking sheet and pop one after the other into your mouth.  So go ahead…I’ll wait.

Homemade Croutons

Ingredients:

A Loaf of Crusty Bread (About 4 cups)

1/4 – 1/2 cup Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

2 teaspoons Garlic Salt

1.  Cut the bread into cubes and add to a medium sized bowl.

2.  Add the olive oil, Italian seasoning, and garlic salt, and mix well.

3.  Spread the cubes out evenly on a baking sheet.  It doesn’t need to be greased, because the olive oil should prevent the bread from sticking.

4.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes or until the croutons are done, turning halfway.  You will know they are done when the bread becomes hard and toasty.

What’s your favorite crouton flavor?  Let us know in the comments section!