Bread Crumbs

Do you buy bread crumbs from the store?  I used to because I thought it was easier, but honestly in the amount of time it takes to drive to the store, stand in line, pay and drive home you can make your own.  Its a good way to use leftover bread or the ends of the breads if you have kids who don't like them.  In all fairness I'm not a huge fan of the ends either! 

Have you ever looked at the back of a container of bread crumbs?  If not you should.  Bread crumbs aren't just bread crumbs!  The ones I purchased contain almost 60 different ingredients!!  Granted they are the Italian style, so the spices are counted as additional ingredients, but why do my bread crumbs have to have high fructose corn syrup, regular corn syrup (what the heck is the difference between regular and high fructose corn syrups??), partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, 4 different flours, butter, buttermilk and 2 different preservatives??  So I just started making my own.  I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with the store bought ones...maybe save them as a back up in case I run out of homemade ones.  Although, come to think of it, the chances of running out of bread crumbs on the same day I run out of bread to make new bread crumbs with is highly unlikely.  For the record there are 8 ingredients in mine...well technically a few more because I used store bought bread, but the next time I'm going to try making a loaf of whole wheat bread specifically to turn into bread crumbs.

Making your own food always allows you the ability to alter ingredients.  You could easily add or subtract any spices or change the type of bread you use.  Maybe you might want to be daring and try a different bread like sourdough, pumpernickel or rye.  If you don't want your bread crumb Italian style, you can always just make a plain bread crumb and add the spices at a later time.  Either way, you probably will want to store the bread crumbs in an air tight container in the freezer...this will help them stay fresh longer.  There is a reason that store bought bread crumbs can be stored at room temperature for quite some time, but I don'twant to serve that reason to my kids if I don't have to!  Happy bread crumb making!
 
Bread Crumbs

10 slices of bread
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp oregano

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Place bread slices directly on wire rack and bake for 35 mins.

After dried bread has cooled, break them up into pieces, place into a food processor and grind into fine crumbs.

Spices!

Add spices to the food processor and pulse a few times to blend.  Place in a covered air tight container in the freezer until ready to use.