Don’t ask me why, but I’ve NEVER made croutons. Somehow I thought they would be finicky, difficult, mushroom-cloud-exploding-from-the-top-of-my-head-annoying even… So when I saw a recipe for homemade croutons in a wartime recipe book of mine, and it looked so simple I didn’t feel my blood pressure spiking, even for one moment, I HAD to give it a go.

This recipe was SO DAMN SIMPLE!

Although I haven’t had pre-packaged shop bought croutons for a long, long time, I’ve never been a big fan. They seemed too oily, too garlicky and too damn hard. These homemade croutons were light and crispy and tasty and PERFECT on top of the “Quick Vegetable Soup” I made this morning.  I’ll never, ever go back to buying croutons again…there seriously is no point.

The only fat on my croutons was a little oil used to grease the tray and they were simple seasoned with a sprinkling of sea salt and dried mixed herbs before they went in the oven

Homemade Croutons

• 4 slices of wholewheat bread (one slice of bread per person)
• a little oil or margarine for greasing baking tray
• salt
• dried herbs

Method

1. Slice bread into small cubes (16 pieces per slice) making sure not to squash bread
2. Place on a greased baking tray
3. Sprinkle with salt and dried mixed herbs
4. Place in middle of pre-heated oven 180 C until croutons dry out and become golden with darker edges

I prefer my croutons without garlic but you can easily rub a sliced clove over the tray before adding the bread or indeed bake a couple of cloves with the bread. Add your own seasoning and herbs to taste..