Parmesan Croutons from Day Old Bread

If you’re looking for an easy way to use day old (or even month-old) bread, I’ve got just the thing: Parmesan Croutons.

I cleaned out and defrosted my extra freezer this past weekend. I store my grains, flour, homemade soup, marinara, and extra bread in this freezer. As I was going through all of the items, I found several bags of bread cubes that I had made from leftover bread. I’ve been trying to be more efficient in using the bread I make so I sliced and cubed the bread before I froze it. I designated some of the bread cubes for specific purposes such as stuffing for Thanksgiving, bread pudding, and Tomato Bread Soup.

I found a couple of bags of bread cubes that weren’t designated for a specific purpose so I decided to make croutons with them. As it turns out, I recently bought parmesan croutons to go with the salad I took to a dinner party. Now that I know how easy it is, next time, I’ll make the croutons instead of buying them.

 

Making Parmesan Croutons

Yield: 2 cups of croutons

I got the inspiration for making these croutons from KitchenDaily

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cubed sourdough bread (I used a bag of leftover poolish baguettes and a bag of sourdough rye bread cubes)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (more or less based on preference)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

 

Directions:

Take day old bread and slice it into cubes.

I used Whole Wheat and Rye Bread

 

and Poolish Baguettes

 

Slice the loaves into cubes.

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the bread cubes in a big bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to thoroughly incorporate the olive oil. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and toss again.

 

Spread the bread cubes out onto baking trays. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

 

Bake for 7-8 minutes or until golden brown.

Here are the toasted whole wheat and rye parmesan croutons. The poolish baguette parmesan croutons are featured at the top of the post. Some of the croutons got a little bit too toasted so I tossed those.

 

I enjoyed eating these croutons warm right out of the oven, but I’ve also been enjoying them with Slow Cooker Tomato Herb Soup and with Caesar salads for lunch. Delish!

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy