What can I do with breadcrumbs?

Caterina

I've been saving bread (homemade mostly, bottom of the loaf from breadmachine, as v difficult to slice) for the last month now to make the stuffing on Xmas day, I made a massive one and we loved it!

Yesterday I made a nice veggie crumble using the breadcrumb made from leftovers of the bread that I did not use for the stuffing:

sauteed all leftover vegs in the fridge, made nice white sauce with soy milk and mixed the lot together, covered with the crumbs and baked, we had friends around at dinner and they loved it!

Caterina

Caterina

Bogof_Babe

Wow, that sounds lovely Caterina. I am heading off to the kitchen right now, to do the very same! It will get rid of the last of the sprouts anyway, and I have some elderly carrots and an onion looking for a purpose.

I think I will incorporate Magentasue's suggestion and put some grated cheese in with the breadcrumbs too!

I may be gone a while... ;D

halloweenqueen_2

Some great ideas with the freezing - my lot hate crusts! The adding of herbs is a good idea - i sometimes add paprika - I love the stuff!

Alison_B

When the crumbs have been defrosted, don't they go all mushyt? Just thinking when I take bread out of the freezer it sometimes gets soggy when defrosted for some reason. Can you also re-freeze the breadcrumbs if they were taken from a loaf that has been defrosted? I always throw away my crusts but it would be great to use as breadcrumbs.

Thanks

Alison

Bogof_Babe

 I always throw away my crusts but it would be great to use as breadcrumbs.

Thanks

Alison

If you know you aren't going to eat the crusts (and there are no hungry birdies in your garden ) why not freeze them when the loaf is new, then you could thaw and make into crumbs when you need to?

Queenie

Fresh breadcrumbs in recipes usually say "breadcrumbs", however, when making things such as HM fishcakes, scotch eggs etc., it often says: "toss in golden breadcrumbs" - the stuff in tubes - (basically because when it comes to HM fishcakes and scotch eggs, the ingredients are usually already cooked/take minimal cooking so "fresh" crumbs are no necessary.

HM *anything* is always preferrable to processed and I do as many of the above posters do.

If all you have though are the "tube/golden" kind, then use those as an emergency standby - otherwise, for breadcrumbs, read "fresh" (or in modern terms - defrosted from fresh ;D )

HTH

Debt_Free_Chick

r the cardboard tubs of golden crumbs that are for coating e.g. scotch eggs and other deep fried food?

Sorry but, yeuk

Have you seen what's in them and looked at the price?

Yeuk!

nabowla

I've never tried making my own breadcrumbs before :-[

How old should the bread be? Does it need to be as hard as cardboard or just a bit dry? What's the best way of making breadcrumbs without a processor - using a grater or by hand?

Lucie_2

Definately use a blender for your breadcrumbs - grating bread is hard work.
I doesn't matter how old the bread is, as long as you pick off the mouldy bits! The staler the better really. Fresh bread tend to stick in big clumps when you try to whizz it because it's too "wet". If you need to make breadcrumbs from fresh bread, pop it in the toaster for 30/45 seconds - just until it starts to feel a bit hard. It will then be easier to whizz up into crumbs.

I add allsorts to my breadcumbs - finely grated parmesan cheese & chilli flakes are two of the favourites in our house.

r.mac_2

I like the idea about adding things to the breadcrumbs.

I have just got a hand or stick blender - do you think that that would work (to make breadcrumbs I mean - not mixed in with the breadcrumbs! ::))?