I never thought making breadcrumbs was essential until I ran out one day. I grated some stale bread for crab cakes, and my husband and I noticed the difference immediately. The crab cakes were so light and easy to digest — plus, they tasted better. That week, I made more breadcrumbs for eggplant Parmesan and meatballs. Again, everything tasted better and lighter.
Curious why homemade breadcrumbs made such a difference, I checked the label on a popular store-bought brand. It had over 30 ingredients — some I didn’t recognize, and others I couldn’t understand why they were in breadcrumbs at all.
As an example: Breadcrumbs (enriched flour wheat flour, malted barley, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, vegetable oil [soybean and/or cottonseed and/or corn and/or canola oils). Contains 2% or less of: salt, yeast, honey, molasses, sugar, wheat gluten, whey, soy four, whole wheat flour, rye flour, white corn four, oat bran, rice flour, potato flour, butter, dough conditioners (mono- and diglycerides, sodium and/or calcium stearoyl lactylate, soy lecithin, calcium carbonate), yeast nutrients (ammonium sulfate, calcium sulfate, monocalcium phosphate), distilled vinegar, nonfat milk, buttermilk, lactic acid, calcium propionate (preservative), potassium sorbate (preservative), sesame seeds, sunfiower seeds, egg), Enriched Flour (wheat four, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Salt, Parsley*, Spice, Onion Powder, Garlic, Natural Flavor.
Contains wheat, milk, egg, sunflower, soy, and sesame ingredients.
Partially Produced with Genetic Engineering
I realized that commercially made breadcrumbs need additives and preservatives to prevent them from molding and spoiling — and sugar and other flavors to mask the unpleasant taste of some preservatives. It's no wonder we noticed such a difference in the homemade version — they’re just breadcrumbs with a simple, fresh taste and no chemical additives to digest. In my upcoming book you can read more about why our bodies weren't designed to digest chemical additives. For now, you can experiment and replace your store-bought breadcrumbs with homemade and see for yourself.
I've been making breadcrumbs ever since this discovery, and I always keep some stocked in the freezer. Here's how you can make them — and a few more good reasons to make some when you have stale bread.
Bread — stale, ideally
Kitchen tools:
Save bread in a bread box or a bag in the fridge — or the freezer if you don’t think you will use them for a while.
I find the easiest way to make breadcrumbs (other than asking my husband to make them) is to place my bread box in the sink and use a cheese grater to grate the stale bread over the box. This way, any crumbs that don't land in the box stay in the sink rather than scattered about on the counter and on the floor. You can also place a bowl in the sink and grate over the bowl to catch the crumbs.
Alternatively, you can use a food processor. It's faster than grating by hand, but there’s more to clean up.
Store your homemade breadcrumbs in an airtight container or baggie in the fridge — they last for weeks — or in a freezer bag — they’ll last for months.
Grate as you have stale bread and add to your stock, or save the bread and grate all at once — freeze them, and you'll be stocked for months.
Breadcrumbs don’t clump together when frozen, and they don’t need to thaw, so you can pull what you need right from the freezer and add to your recipe.
There's no need to remove the crust unless you want a finer, more uniform texture. I rarely do — I'm usually in a hurry. I just grate the bread, crust and all. If I end up with big chunks of crust in the mix, I either use them anyway (they're fine in meatballs or crab cakes) or push them aside and grab the finest crumbs when I want a very light coating — like for a warm goat cheese salad — or I'm making a delicate recipe like a soufflé. Otherwise, rustic breadcrumbs are fine with me to save the time!
Besides homemade breadcrumbs being healthier and free (if you were going to toss your stale bread anyway), you can season your homemade breadcrumbs any way you like. Add sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and some dried oregano or freshly pressed garlic for an Italian touch, or herbes de Provence for a French twist!
Pasta with tomatoes roasted in garlic, oregano, breadcrumbs, and topped with fresh Parmesan
Grating breadcrumbs
Homemade chicken fingers. I'll post the recipe soon, but it's simple: dip boneless chicken tenders in beaten egg, then dredge in breadcrumbs and pan-fry.
You can always write to me here if you have a question about a recipe — or anything else!
