In my house the heels of the bread loaves get the shaft. They collect, unwanted and unloved, in multiple varieties and bags in my freezer. (Yes, I keep my bread in the freezer, screw you for judging me).
But, croutons. Croutons are beloved. On salads, soups, right out of the bag (I’m looking at you Steven Shomler!), croutons kick ass.
Once in a while when I notice multiple bags of unloved bread in the freezer I pull them out to transform them into croutons. I use whatever combination I find; might be all sourdough or sourdough plus rye or Ezekiel bread. It doesn’t matter, variety is good. Except cinnamon raisin or other sweet stuff might be a little weird and I have not found gluten free breads very conducive to croutoning (too dense). Just let ‘em thaw enough to dice up into chunks as big or small as you like, but all roughly the same size. Toss in a big bowl with some olive oil and whatever seasonings sound good. I’ve used everything from Old Bay to Oregon Coast Wasabi seasoning salt, but Johnny’s Garlic Bread Seasoning is my go-to favorite.
Spread them out on a lined sheet pan (I use those silicone liners now, but foil or parchment paper worked fine before I got all fancy). Put them in a low oven, I go 250 degrees. Stir them around once in a while. Cook until dried out and brown. I think this usually takes about an hour, but it depends on how big your chunks are. When they look done-ish, I just turn off the oven and leave them in there to cool. It helps them get even more dried out and crunchy.
