Croutons!

The best thing about having a bread baking blog is always having bread around.  The worst thing about having a bread baking blog is always having so much bread around.

This morning there was still one slice of the Oatmeal Maple Honey Loaf, half of the Partially Whole Wheat Boule, and never-ending Pain au Levain.  This was an up-hill battle.  No matter how much we love bread, we could not possibly finish all ourselves...or without jazzing it up a bit.

Today, I decided that I would make Split Pea Soup for dinner and finish up the Partially Whole Wheat Loaf by making croutons.  Homemade croutons are so deliciously wonderful - in soup, on salad, or just as a crunchy snack.  Check those suckers out!  And they can swim!

I highly encourage you to make homemade soup because it's almost as rewarding as homemade bread.  Like homemade bread, soup is extremely inexpensive and so much better for you without preservatives and additives and the like.

Go forth.  Simmer some soup and crunch some croutons.  I'm not going to give you the soup recipe since I'm not in love with it, but here's how easy it is to whip up a batch of croutons:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Slice up whatever amount of day (or more) old bread into 1 inch cubes.

Toss these into a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the croutons are golden brown and crunchy.

Eat up!

Options: Sprinkle on some garlic salt, red pepper flakes, any combination of herbs, chop up some fresh garlic and toss with cubes before baking, or add (the best option of all)...CHEESE!

-Lil