Retake Homemade: Baked Croutons

I don’t know about you, but I was never a natural salad eater.  My dad would eat it, drowned in ranch (thus eliminating the healthy part), and mom wouldn’t touch it.  So I was 12 or 13 before I was ever really exposed to salad eating families.  And what got me through was not dressing, it was the CROUTONS.  Because, for me, life is all about the bread.  The pumpernickel croutons at Ruby Tuesday are one of life’s greatest joys.  These aren’t pumpernickel, but this technique can be applied to any form of day old bread.  In this case, I used half a small loaf of artisan bread (the base recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day).  The end results were crispy and delicious.  This is really one of those recipes that has no measurements.  You use as much as you like.  A drizzle or a drench of olive oil.  Any seasonings you like.  This is sort of my generic whatever recipe.  If I was having a salad with Italian, I’d toss in Italian seasoning.  Mexican, a bit of chili powder and cumin.  Play with it, figure out what you like.

Ingredients:

  • day old bread cut into cubes
  • olive oil
  • garlic powder
  • paprika
  • seasoned salt
  • fresh ground pepper

Directions:

  1. Toss the bread cubes in the olive oil until well coated.
  2. Sprinkle with whatever seasonings you like and toss until well coated.
  3. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 200 degrees (keep an eye on these until you know how your oven cooks).
  4. Serve with your favorite salad greens.

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2 thoughts on “Retake Homemade: Baked Croutons

  1. Sounds soooo good…laughing at the image of your father because when I was a kid, I’d drown my salad with dressing …my mom would fuss because the entire bottle would be gone by time my brothers and I were done 🙂

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