Make Croutons You Could Never Get At The Store With This Type Of Bread

Given their simplicity, croutons really punch above their weight in the kitchen. They can add so much texture and additional flavor to salads and soups. Wise cooks know that croutons are the solution to repurposing leftover bread, as the stale slices magically transform into crunchy morsels with minimal effort. Croutons are available to buy pre-made from the grocery store however, we strongly encourage you to make them at home, as they will be fresher and will cost less. While it's common to use baguettes, sourdough, or even cornbread for croutons, the possibilities are actually endless. One type of bread you might overlook as a crouton contender is sweet bread (not to be confused with sweetbreads, which are a type of offal). 

Traditionally a savory element, croutons absorb any flavor you throw their way. Commonly seasoned with butter, garlic, or herbs, a crouton can just as easily take on a sweet flavor profile. While you can use cinnamon raisin bread croutons to top a savory pumpkin soup or a fall salad with apples and roasted squash, there are many potential uses for these dessert-like croutons. For example, sweet croutons would be an excellent topper for ice cream, or even puddings like chocolate, tapioca, or rice pudding. 

Banana bread would make amazing croutons, given that the sugars in the bread caramelize beautifully when bathed in fat and crisped in a skillet. For a sweet-and-savory element, you could fry the sweet croutons in bacon fat. Even biscuits can be turned into croutons, be they sweet or savory. Of course, you can purchase any type of sweet bread you'd like at the store but, ideally, croutons are made from stale, leftover scraps of bread, making them an inexpensive and less wasteful item. If you've baked a loaf of sweet bread, like blueberry bread or cinnamon-apple swirl bread, try making croutons out of the day-old leftovers.

To really experiment, you could cube up store-bought pound cake or leftover cake slices, sans frosting, in place of bread. If you're in the mood to be meta, top cinnamon swirl french toast with croutons made from the same bread for a textural adventure. You could even toss the croutons in a cinnamon sugar blend before they cool. Although they look so appealing when cut into perfect little cubes, you should stop cutting bread for croutons and try tearing it by hand instead. While you can easily turn bread into croutons in a hot oven, we recommend breaking out the skillet for flavorful homemade croutons.