I don’t know about you but boy, do I ever hate those sale nasty bought croutons! I’m that person who, in a restaurant picks them off unless I know they are made in-house.
For some reason, I never bothered making my onw because I thought they would be like the store-bought ones. That changed one day, when we were making a chicken, pear salad for a corporate luncheon. The recipe I was using called for croutons, so I told my assistant that we would just leave them off. She said, I always make croutons for soups and salads at home and I will make homemade ones for the salad. Bit of a revelation that! So, now I’m a convert and make my own too!
Preheat oven to 350 F
Cut the crusts of French or Italian bread, cut into ½” or so, cubes. Spread onto a baking sheet; drizzle with EVOO, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss to coat the bread cubes. Place in the oven for 10 minutes; stir. Return to oven until golden; stirring once more. Remove from oven and cool. The croutons will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or you can freeze them for a month.
Tip from Yvonne: If you like you can add some dried herbs to the bread cubes when tossing them with EVO, salt and pepper.
