Crummy or Crumby?

What do you do with old bread? You know you have a loaf kicking around that's too old to eat, but not a moldy brick yet. There are lots of things to do with it actually and I won't insult your intelligence by listing them. I choose to experiment with making bread crumbs from old loaves I'd tucked away in the freezer. Still frozen. And it worked quite well.

Step 1: Frozen Oldie

Take your past-its-prime loaf and pack it away in a freezer for a day or two. Pull that sucker out get to work with a box grater. I suppose you have cut the loaf up before freezing it so you could use a food processor or other grinder device. Heh . . . wimps.

Step 2: From Pale to Blond

Those fresh grated bits looked like . . . I don't know . . . the chunky dust you have left over after doing some serious drywall work. To make this sad excuse for bread crumbs needed some help. I tossed it into a nonstick pan over high heat and tossed it until it was browned and lovely. I suppose you could do this on a sheet pan in the oven at about 400F degrees too. It took a while to do this because of the moisture of the bread crumbs. Ten minutes at most, but you had to drive away the moisture in the bread and the condensation that formed because it was so cold.

Step 3: Store It

I keep my bread crumbs in plastic bags or plastic containers. I also stash them in the back of the refrigerator. They keep practically forever. If you get them out and they seem lackluster give them another round of heat on the stove or oven.

Get thee hence and go coat and fry things!