At my house keeping bread fresh and not moldy is a constant battle. I make our bread, so there aren’t any of those preservatives in it, which I like, but it also means that the bread doesn’t last as long as it might otherwise. I’ve composted many a partial loaf as it was moldy before we could eat it. After I make a loaf I try to make a mental note to check it in 4-5 days and see where it is on the freshness scale. If I don’t think we can use it all I make it into other things.

Bread pudding is obviously a big favorite, but it’s not something that should be eaten on a regular basis. I also have an egg casserole recipe that uses bread slices, but it too shouldn’t be eaten on a regular basis. Lately I’ve been tackling this challenge by making croutons.

It’s salad season in my neck of the woods, which makes croutons an in demand item. Also, by having croutons around I have a ready supply of bread to smash up into bread crumbs if I need them. No more need to buy containers of bread crumbs. Croutons are ridiculously easy to make. I brush olive oil (or you could use melted butter) on slices of bread. Sprinkle on garlic, salt, onion powder and dried parsley (the parsley seems to be very important to the overall flavor). Slice the slices into small cubes and put them on a cookie sheet at 275 degrees for about 45-60 minutes. It’s that easy.

A great time to make these and reduce your energy use is to make these up to slide in the oven after it’s already been used to cook a meal or something. Reduce the temp for 15 minutes or so and then turn the oven off and the residual heat should dry them out well enough. If you have an earth oven you can use the low temperature times to do this as well.

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