Ingredients
Day old bread (my aunt recommends using a Pugliese or Ciabatta)
Unsalted butter or olive oil
Garlic salt or regular sea salt
Pepper to taste
Preparation
1- Cut day old bread into 3cm thick / wide cubes. Here I am using a levain loaf.
2- Heat your skillet or saute pan to medium/high and add your butter (or olive oil.)
3- Add your bread cubes and let them brown on one side. Flip them one by one so that they do indeed flip and brown the another side. You can stop at two sides but you may also continue browning other sides.
4- Transfer them to a basket or bowl, salt and pepper to taste while they are cooling. Wait 5-10 minutes before serving as they will be quite hot. Enjoy!
Step 1
Gather your ingredients. Day old bread, olive oil or butter, salt and pepper.
Slice your bread into about 3cm thick slices or to your size preference.
Cut slices evenly. Here they are about 3cm wide.
I cut the slices separately into cubes as to control the sizes.
I like to group together the cubes to measure out the quantity I need for each serving.
Drizzle enough olive oil to coat the botton of your medium / medium-high pan.
Leave them on one side until it's browned. You'll want to flip them one by one either with tongs or two forks.
Drizzle some more olive oil on the dry side to get them ready for flipping.
It's up to you how many sides you want to brown. Two is sufficient in terms of flavor and crunch but can only get yummier the more sides you do. Up to you!
Be mindful as they can easily get too dark and even black like they did here!
Allow them to cool so that they don't burn your guests mouths. Enjoy!
My Aunt Chandra is an excellent cook. She makes much more than croutons but I will admit, these are one of the things that have stood out to me because like it’s rare, that I get to eat a home cooked crouton. This is bonkers because they are always way better than the store bought, fancy or not.
My aunt scolded me after I showed off to her that I made her croutons. She couldn’t believe that I used olive oil (I misread butter for olive oil which admittedly is something to be ashamed of.) So just to be clear, this recipe is made with butter but I can say that it’s hands down delicious with olive oil. I like choices so I do both now.
One important note. I make sure to make extra for crunching and munching while you wait to actually serve them. I highly recommend doing this or you’ll just have to make more for your actual dish.
These are best made “a la minute” but you can prepare the bread by cubing it and then it’s just about tossing them in the sautee pan.
