How to Make Croutons

Croutons are an excellent garnish for soups and salads - these pieces of sautéed or re-baked bread add an extra crunchy texture to the food, as well as a nice flavor, depending on how you decide to season them.

And they are also super-easy to prepare: if you want to boost your dish with a fancy touch that does not require so much effort, homemade croutons are going to be your choice. Furthermore they are a very good way to use up bread leftovers. What more could you ask for?

All you are going to need is:

• Bread, sliced or diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped (or other flavoring of your choice, such as oregano, thyme, garlic or Parmesan)

Cut some nice bread cubes or, if you prefer, some baguette slices. The size and the shape is actually up to you as well as the kind of bread and the flavor you decide to add to the croutons.

For my croutons I used white bread, I took off the crust (but you can decide to leave it there) and I cut it into cubes.

For the cooking you have two choices: the frying pan on the stove or the oven.

I prefer to sauté them in the frying pan because it’s faster, but it depends also on how many croutons I want to make. For bigger quantities I would cook them in the oven.

If you are using the frying pan, make sure the olive oil is very hot before adding the bread cubes to it, otherwise they will soak the oil and stay soggy. Stir and toss the bread frequently and add the chopped rosemary. Make sure the bread cubes become crisp and get a nice golden-brown color on all sides. It takes few minutes.

If you decide to bake the bread, preheat the oven to 180°C. Drizzle a bit of oil onto the non-stick baking sheet and add the bread cubes in one layer so that they are not touching. Drizzle another bit of oil and toss lightly to cover them. Bake for five minutes, then take out the tray and sprinkle the chopped rosemary on the croutons, toss and stir. Bake for another five minutes and check if they are ready. They should be crispy and have a nice golden-brown color on all sides.

As you may have noticed, I did not add any salt to the recipe. Bread dough has already some salt in it, so I prefer not to put any extra, for the flavor and the health as well.

For my recipe I flavored the croutons with fresh rosemary, but you can use many other ingredients. You can use other herbs, dried or fresh, such as oregano or thyme or you can add Parmesan to get an even richer result. If you decide to flavor your croutons with chopped garlic be careful not to burn it while cooking, otherwise they will become bitter.

Now sprinkle your freshly made croutons on your soup or add them to your salad and enjoy!