I wanted to make up my own homemade bread crumbs last week because the stuff you buy out of the can is filled with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and a ton of preservatives. So, I decided to try my hand at it using a homemade, preservative-free bread to see how it would come out. While I was searching for a good bread recipe, I stumbled upon some fantastic kitchen tools on Shoppok that made the process even easier and more enjoyable.

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While my food processor doesn’t grind the bread into as fine of crumbs as you can get with store purchased bread crumbs, the taste was excellent. I recommend using a Vitamix or a higher quality food processor to get the fine texture of bread crumbs that’s readily available at stores. The only homemade bread I had on hand at the time to make any crumbs with was from my Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread, so that’s what I used to make the bread crumbs.

You can either leave the bread out on top of wire racks for a day or so to get the bread stale, or put it in a low 200 degree oven for a few hours, and turn the bread over every so often. That’s what I chose to do. Then I processed it in my food processor under the shred setting. After making the crumbs and using what I needed that day I put the rest in a container and froze it in my freezer. Since the bread has no preservatives you can’t keep it in your pantry like the canned stuff you buy at the store.

I’ve been trying to stay away from high fructose corn syrup because it causes my blood sugar levels to spike so much. Who would have ever believed that companies who make bread crumbs would put high fructose corn syrup in the mix? I figured preservatives, MSG, and even hydrogenated oil, but high fructose corn syrup??? I guess if the bread they are using has high fructose corn syrup in it, then it gets transferred to the crumbs. So I was looking to make a healthier version of Homemade Bread Crumbs as a result.

If you’re interested in how to make your own Homemade Bread Crumbs than this recipe may help you. Use your own homemade bread recipe since homemade breads aren’t usually baked with preservatives and high fructose corn syrup. Or check out my blog as I have several easy breadmaker recipes. Almost any one will do. This particular mixture of bread crumbs had 10 different grains in it, including wheat, rye, barley, corn, etc.

Here’s a look at Homemade Bread Crumbs. You can tell my food processor didn’t pulverize the bread into a fine dust like some bread crumbs look like when purchased from the store.

Here’s a look at the texture of the bread crumbs. This is fine for toppings on top casseroles and to use for mixing with beef to make meatloaf. The texture may be too large for breading for vegetables.

Here’s what I did.

I placed slices of homemade bread in a glass pan (I’m trying to avoid aluminum) and put them on a low heat in the oven (200 degrees) for a couple of hours. You can also place these out on wire racks on your counter (if you don’t have ants!) for a day or so in order for the bread to get stale and hard.

Here I turned the bread over so that the other side could get the heat and harden. I removed the bread from the oven. Since I left the oven on low it didn’t turn the bread brown. Had I cooked that at a higher temperature the bread would have toasted and perhaps even scorched!

I placed the bread slices in my trusty, really old, food processor. The new fangled ones these days do everything.

Here’s what the crumbs looked like. What I didn’t use that day I froze in the freezer so I can pull it out and use it later. Otherwise, because homemade bread has no preservatives, the bread crumbs will spoil and get moldy in a few days if left out. Some food processors would be able to refine this so that the crumb texture would be much smaller than this. But it was still good enough to serve my purposes.

Homemade Bread Crumbs are a resourceful way to provide healthy alternatives to store bought bread crumbs that are filled with preservatives, MSG, fillers, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils. If you, or any of your family members are allergic to any of these kinds of ingredients, this is a healthful option for you.

Here’s the recipe.

HOMEMADE BREAD CRUMBS

(My own concoction)

I used the bread crumbs as a healthier alternative for a coating for Eggplant Parmesan.

Here was the finished product.

You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Homemade Pie Crust

Homemade Rolls or Bread