If you’re like me you love croutons. I love them on salads but I also sprinkle them into soups as well. I love the flavor and aroma that croutons give off and I love making my own.
I’ve made my share of oven baked croutons with butter or olive oil and all the spices I like in my own combination that is just right for my taste. But lately my acid reflux has made me rethink everything I eat. That includes Croutons.
If you have a dehumidifier it’s easy to make tasty and healthy croutons using no oil of any kind. The great thing about dehydrated croutons is that they store in a jar on the shelf and keep for months. (And they never burn)
But if you’re like me, you will most likely eat them up pretty fast. That’s why I store them in smaller jars, because I’m opening the jar more often and using the croutons. By storing in several small jars I run less risk of putting moisture into the left overs.
To make Dehydrated Croutons:
First you cut your bread into cubes as you normally would and put them in a big bowl. For this recipe it’s better to use fresher bread or give them a light mist of pure distilled water to help them soak in the spices you plan to ad.
You can add just about any variety of spice you prefer. Since you’re most likely using old bread that would normally be thrown out otherwise it’s a great way to experiment with various spice combinations.
Onions, Garlic and Celery can be added in spice form to the bread crumbs.
You can also add aromatics through the dehydrating process. By Chopping or slicing various aromatic vegetables like Celery, Garlic or Onions you can add not only some flavor but some aroma to your bread crumbs.
Add all the spices you want to your bread crumbs and toss. Allow them to soak in the spice flavorings for a few minutes and toss again. You can leave them in the refrigerator covered overnight or put them in the dehydrator straight away. The more you let the them sit with the spices the more flavors will be absorbed.
Place your first tray with a small mesh on the bottom and lay out your veggies that you wish to use for aromatic infusion along with some of the bread crumbs.
Then place bread crumbs on the rest of the trays. Don’t worry about the spices if they fall through, the bottom mesh will catch most of them. You can also add more dry spices after the croutons are dried.
Set them at about 140 and dry for several hours, checking back to see how the drying has progressed. When bread crumbs are crumbly you can transfer them to a plastic bag or jar. When the croutons are gone the crumbs can be used as well.
Here’s a video explaining the entire process.
Making Croutons https://youtu.be/N1jpZJFmLDI
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