Shakin & Bakin Foodie Blog

I guess at times you could call me a frugal cook! I like to make homemade bread crumbs 4-5 times every year and this is how I make them.

You will need:

food dehydrator
blender or food processor
parsley, oregano, basil, dried chopped green onion, rosemary, seasoned salt, black pepper and garlic salt or garlic powder
left-over bread

Breads: I save all the crusts from our bread, any bread that is becoming stale, left over rolls, potato rolls, crackers that are stale, etc. You can even throw in a few thin pretzels!

I keep big freezer zipper close bags in my upright freezer and fill them up with left over bread products, then 4-5 times a year, I get them out and thaw out my bread and rolls.

I use a 7 tray Ronco (tm) food dehydrator. I lay my bread slices down onto the trays and turn it on. It takes around 6-8 hours so I usually do it before I go to bed and then in the morning, its ready to go.

Remove your miscellaneous bread products from the dehydrator trays and break them into smaller pieces. (make sure they are completely dried out). I separate them into smaller piles. I place one pile at a time into my food processor along with my desired amounts of spices (see above, I don't measure any spices out, just season it to your taste). Turn on the food processor and chop it up until its of fine crumb consistency. Pour the crumb mixture into a large bowl and repeat the steps until all your piles are done.

Pour your crumb mixture into an air tight container. I like putting mine into the Tupperware (tm) Oval Modular Mate Container. Label and then store in your pantry.

I use these bread crumbs in meatloaf, in meatballs, on fish and chicken.

You will need to experiment with your spice choices as the ones I listed above are the ones we like to use. Pretty simple and a lot cheaper than buying your bread crumbs at the grocery store!

Have fun and mix up the variety of breads that you use to make the bread crumbs to create some unique flavors!