There’s no reason to settle for the sorry excuse for bread crumbs available commercially. All you need to make your own is a food processor and some day-old bread. Since I use a lot of bread crumbs in my cooking, I use my freezer for stockpiling bits and pieces from unfinished loaves, eventually to be turned into crumbs. In fact, if I’m out of my freezer inventory, I deliberately “stale” fresh bread for crumb making by drying it out in a low oven until it’s no longer squeezable. The best bread for all-purpose crumbs is bâtard, ciabatta, or a similar artisanal French or Italian bread without seeds, walnuts, olives, or the like.
Ingredients
Preparation
To make bread crumbs, cut off most of the crust, leaving a little on for texture, then cut the bread into roughly 1-inch chunks. Place the chunks in the food processor bowl up to the top of the blade knob—no higher or the bread will turn into a glob rather than crumbs. Use pulses to swirl the chunks until the crumbs are as fine as you like. If you want extra-fine crumbs, such as what you might use for coating food on which you want a particularly crisp crust, briefly dry the chunks in a low oven (325°F) until firm but not toasted, then cool and process. Store any crumbs you won’t be using within 2 or 3 days in the freezer.
