My love of croutons developed early on in my childhood. In fact there was one restaurant where my brother, sister and I would simply ask for a bowl of croutons and a side of ranch.
I pretty much could do the same thing as a full-grown adult.
Several years ago, when I learned how to make panzanella salad, it involved making your own croutons. It is so easy and so good and helps your house be scented like a buttery garlic toast factory.
Sourdough Garlic Butter Croutons
- 8-10 slices of sourdough bread (I like to slice a sourdough boule, but any bread would work)
- 6 tablespoons butter; melted
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut bread into half inch cubes and place in a large mixing bowl. Melt butter in a small saucepan on the stove. Let cool slightly. Add sugar, onion powder, garlic powder and salt into the melted butter and mix well. Stir the olive oil to the butter mixture. Toss the bread cubes with the butter/oil mixture, coating each one well. Lay the bread cubes out in one even layer on a baking sheet. Cook the coated bread cubes for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven to stir and return to the oven for 3-5 more minutes, watching them closely to make sure they do not over bake.
Remove from oven and allow them to cool completely on the pan. Keep in mind if they are not completely dried and crunchy when they come out of the oven that they will continue to crisp up as they cool. I store the croutons in the fridge due to the butter and they keep up to a week.
