Croutons can become a signature dish for any housewife. It is prepared easily and quickly without any culinary skills and is very popular in different countries. Croutons are served for breakfast, and can be either a meal on their own or a snack, for example, with beer, croutons for soup, or as a side dish for other dishes: salads and seafood. How to make croutons? There are many different recipes for making them; you can make either croutons with garlic and salt, or sweet ones, and serve with tea or coffee. They can be made from different types of bread.
It is better not to rush to buy this product ready-made, as substances that are not beneficial for digestion may be added to it. It's best to fry the croutons yourself so you can follow your personal taste preferences when choosing ingredients such as bread, eggs and spices.
The history and recipes for croutons are slightly different in each country, but they have one thing in common - the dish is made from unclaimed leftover dried bread. It is interesting that in Italy in the Middle Ages such fried bread was used as a dish for serving snacks and was not eaten and left on the table.
The servants often took the bread for themselves. Later, peasants began to use fried flour products while working in the fields. This made it convenient to bring lunch with you and eat it during a break between work. In Russia, croutons became widespread during the war and post-war famine. But later this dish was loved by both adults and children, and the recipe was saved.
Toast with cheese and egg
A popular dish is toast with cheese and egg. This recipe is believed to originate from France. For breakfast, toast is served with hot coffee. This morning snack gives you energy and good mood for all day. This dish is best eaten in the first half of the day due to its calorie content and high level carbohydrates. For those who keep fit, a tip would be to use whole grain bread croutons.
Ingredients:
- White bread (loaf, baguette, etc.) – 10 pieces
- Cheese (50% fat) – 40 g
- Eggs – 2 pcs.
- Cream – 125 ml
- Ghee – 2-3 tbsp. l.
- Salt - to taste
Cooking process
To prepare croutons, you need to prepare grated cheese. Then you need to prepare the batter for the croutons. Beat the eggs separately, then gradually add cream and salt to taste to the egg mixture. Beat the mixture again. Next, heat the ghee in a saucepan. The bread, pre-cut into slices, is dipped in batter and then fried in oil on both sides.
The main thing is to reduce the heat to low and fry for about two minutes on each side to obtain a golden crust. While the croutons are still hot, you need to sprinkle them with grated cheese and you can put them in pairs, with the filling facing each other. To ensure that the cheese melts well, you can put the croutons back into the pan for a few seconds and cover with a lid.
Sweet croutons
How to make sweet croutons from white bread? This option for those with a sweet tooth can be croutons according to one of the French recipes. For example, toast with apples in the oven. A delicious and easy-to-prepare dessert.
Ingredients
- Bread – 10 slices
- Apple – 1 pc.
- Cheese or ricotta – 50 g
- Chicken egg – 1 pc.
- Butter – 1 tbsp. l.
- Flour – 1 tsp.
Cooking process
Apples cut into thin slices. Beat the yolk separately and gradually mix it with grated cheese or ricotta and a spoonful of flour. Bring the mixture to a creamy state in a blender. Beat the whites separately, you can add a drop of lemon for better whipping. Grease the bread with butter on one side and place on a baking sheet. Place cream on top, then apple slices, which are covered with whipped egg white. Croutons are baked in the oven at low temperature until golden brown appears.
Toast for breakfast with milk and egg - this dish was known back in the Middle Ages. It is easy to prepare and quickly satisfies hunger. These croutons can be made both salty and sweet. First you need to put a frying pan with oil on the stove and let it heat up.
Meanwhile, in a tall bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk or blender. Gradually add milk and beat the mixture again. Add salt or sugar depending on the end goal. Dip each slice of bread in turn in the milk-egg mixture and then fry until golden brown in a frying pan. The dish is ready.
When preparing sweet croutons according to this recipe, a little secret is to add a pinch of cinnamon or vanilla to add flavor. A variation on sweet croutons could be replacing eggs with bananas. Cook everything according to the same principle, you will get a thicker mass for dipping the bread. After cooking, these croutons can be covered with curd cheese and decorated with thinly sliced strawberries or any other fruit. You will definitely surprise your loved ones at breakfast with this dish.
Toasts with garlic
It is delicious to serve croutons with hot soup of mussels and other seafood. The simplest recipe for such croutons is with olive oil and garlic. Sliced bread is toasted on the grill or in the oven at low temperature. The hot, crispy pieces are delicious in themselves. But if you rub these slices of hot bread with garlic, sprinkle with salt to taste and drizzle with light-filtered olive oil right out of the oven, they become the perfect accompaniment to hot soups.
Croutons can also be cooked in the oven. For convenience, you can use square-shaped bread. In order to soak the bread with garlic, you need to finely chop it and place it on a slice of bread, then stack the pieces one on top of the other, you get such a big sandwich.
You need to wait about ten minutes, and after that remove the garlic from the bread, as it can burn when baked in the oven. Each piece is then cut into slices the right size. The oven temperature is set to 180 degrees. Place the prepared bread on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 10 minutes.
During baking, it is sometimes necessary to turn the pieces over. After the time has passed, take out the baking sheet and our croutons are ready to eat.
The most favorite recipe for many is croutons with tomato. To do this, prepare fresh, finely chopped vegetables, which are mixed with salt and pepper to taste and olive oil. And add basil leaves, which are better to tear with your hands.
It is believed that when cutting with a knife, the greens oxidize and lose their flavor. This filling must be prepared in advance so that it has time to brew. Place the prepared vegetable mixture on croutons that have just been removed from the heat or taken out of the oven and serve as an appetizer before the main course.
Another delicious recipe is croutons with mussels
Filling ingredients:
- 500 g mussels
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Pepper
- Parsley
Carefully clean the mussels and place them in water for 2 hours. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil with a slightly crushed clove of garlic. The mussels need to be fried for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper to taste. After frying, it is better to take out a clove of garlic.
Now you can prepare the bread. You need to remove a little pulp from the center of the slices to form a small indentation. Slices of bread are fried in the oven until golden brown. Fry the remaining pulp in a frying pan with olive oil for about one minute until golden brown. Next, mix the mussels with the fried bread pulp and chopped parsley. Place on hot croutons. This dish is best served with sliced lemon.
Another favorite accompaniment to hot soups is croutons, cut into small cubes. These pieces are delicious sprinkled onto soup. They have a pleasant crunch and add additional flavor and aroma to the dish. These cubes are made from any bread, but the most delicious are made from Borodino rye bread. Also a lot in various ways their preparations. They are prepared in the oven, in a frying pan or even in the microwave.
The easiest recipe for croutons in a frying pan
Ingredients:
- Bread, better stale
- Vegetable oil
- Garlic
- Salt to taste
Cut the bread into even cubes and fry in a hot pan vegetable oil until crispy crust appears. When preparing large croutons, rub each one individually with garlic. IN in this case, it’s easier to pass the peeled garlic through a press and mix with salt to taste, then mix the toasted bread cubes in a deep bowl with the garlic mixture. This way, each cube will be saturated with the aroma of garlic.
Another quick option for making croutons is a recipe with butter. About 100 grams of butter is melted in a saucepan, into which several peeled cloves of garlic are immersed and fried for 5 minutes. While the butter is melting, you can prepare the bread by cutting it into slices of the size you need.
After frying, remove the garlic cloves and place in a separate bowl. Then fry the sliced bread in the same oil in a hot frying pan. If desired, you can add a variety of spices. For example, add black pepper for spiciness. It depends on the individual taste preferences, but there are no restrictions in these recipes.
Garlic croutons for beer
IN Lately In many establishments, croutons have become a very popular snack for beer. They are served as a separate dish, sometimes with various sauces. They say that the frying bread is matched to the type of beer chosen, thereby enhancing taste sensations, and the taste of the beer stands out in contrast to the toast. But most often it is a matter of taste.
Toast from Borodino bread with beer. Cut the bread into slices and fry in a frying pan in oil. After frying, it's a good idea to place the crispy pieces on a paper towel to drain off all the oil. This is done so that the croutons themselves are not very greasy and it is more convenient to eat them with your hands. Each slice is rubbed with a clove of garlic and the appetizer is ready. Next comes the preparation of the sauce. The classic version is garlic.
To prepare it, the garlic is crushed, this can be done different ways: hand press or blender. Depending on the method you choose, the consistency of the sauce itself will change. Mix crushed garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and blend with a blender.
For those who like a spicier sauce, you can add more garlic. And instead of vegetable or olive oil you can use sour cream or mayonnaise. A tasty addition will be made by mixing feta cheese and sour cream until creamy. Next, add dill and pepper to the mixture to taste. By introducing notes of greenery into the sauce, you can achieve a pleasant aftertaste. This sauce will be especially tasty in the summer.
Diet croutons
Toast can be more than just a snack or a hearty breakfast. This dish is often offered when following diets. Only the bread for its preparation should only be black, rye or whole grain. It has the lowest calorie content and contains many useful microelements, B vitamins and fiber.
Of course, the recipes for making croutons for such diets are also different. They should be prepared without oil or with the addition of olive oil. Crispy bread can be prepared in a toaster or using a steamer, where the cooking time will take about 5-7 minutes. This dish should not be too overcooked. Who does not want to follow a specific diet, but simply adheres to proper nutrition, can use such crackers as a replacement for bread, especially white bread.
Such a simple dish - croutons - and such a variety of recipes. A delicacy that is loved by adults and children. You can always come up with new and original combinations with a variety of tastes.
Croutons are a dish that almost everyone loves, and at the same time it is obscenely easy to prepare. The Toast Diet Takes It All beneficial features black bread for weight loss. It contains a lot of B vitamins, fiber, and beneficial microelements. Of course, croutons are not the only food on this diet, but they are the main one.
A diet on toast cannot be followed for a long time, since such a “dry food” diet is not very healthy for the stomach. Required condition- at least 2.5 liters of water per day. Also, croutons should be cooked without oil - in a steam frying pan or in a toaster. They shouldn't be too hard - just slightly browned.
As already mentioned, bread for croutons should only be black, coarsely ground, because it contains the most fiber and useful substances. And the calorie content of black bread is lower. Salt can be added, but in very small quantities. Croutons can be seasoned with herbs.
Diet menu on toast
Day 1
Breakfast: two small croutons, a glass.
Dinner: three medium croutons, boiled chicken breast (200 g).
Dinner: two toasts, a glass.
Day 2
Breakfast: a glass of unsweetened, two small croutons.
Dinner: three large croutons, 100 g low-fat cottage cheese.
Dinner: two croutons, a glass of kefir.
In two days of a crouton diet, you can lose 1-1.5 kg. This is of course not much, but for crouton lovers it is quite suitable. As you can see from the menu, the diet is quite strict, so it’s worth considering whether you can withstand such a “unloading”. You can also try or if you are interested in losing weight on baked goods.
Rye croutons- This is not only one of the most popular snacks for beer, but also a good addition to wine or a component of various salads, giving them a piquant taste.
Actually, croutons are a collective name for small pieces of bread made from various types of flour, fried in butter, olive or sunflower oil or dried in the oven. They can be either sweet or salty with various flavorings, for example, garlic, cheese, horseradish, etc.
In some countries, such as Germany, France or Italy, croutons are also a separate dish. The Germans are very fond of toast with garlic; they are traditionally served with beer.
Beneficial features
Undoubtedly, only properly prepared croutons from black or rye bread have beneficial properties. As you know, such bread contains many microelements and B vitamins.
EThis product can be safely called dietary. Oven-dried rye croutons can be used in various diets for weight loss. They are easily digestible, do not affect metabolism and serve as a good source of healthy carbohydrates. 100 grams of the product contains 236 kcal, while it contains a high content of healthy carbohydrates and virtually no fat.
Use in cooking and recipe how to cook
Rye croutons can be used in cooking in the following qualities:
- As a snack for alcoholic drinks (beer, wine, etc.).
- As an independent dish, as an appetizer before serving main courses.
- As a component of vegetable and meat salads and soups.
It doesn't take long to prepare this popular snack at home. You just have to take the right piece rye bread, preferably not quite fresh, and cut it into thin slices or strips. Then fry or dry in the oven. To add a piquant taste, you can add a little salt, grated garlic, cheese or other ingredients as desired.
Rye croutons with aromatic herbs will delight you with a special aroma.
The well-known Caesar salad always includes crispy toasted croutons. Various creamy soups are also usually served with small croutons, which Be sure to add it just before serving the dish so that the savory crunch of these small pieces of bread is not lost.
Benefits of rye croutons and treatment
Rye croutons bring benefits, but, of course, it is impossible to obtain complete treatment with their help. They can be eaten as a snack and included in the diet of those people who want to lose weight. excess weight, thus replacing white bread in your diet. Also, due to the presence of minerals, muscles are strengthened and brain function is stimulated.
People suffering diabetes mellitus, can diversify their diet with rye croutons. This product is approved for diabetics.
B vitamins contained in rye croutons have a positive effect on nervous system, and the fiber contained in the composition has a beneficial effect on intestinal function.
Harm of rye croutons and contraindications
The harm of rye croutons and contraindications for their use concern people who have problems with digestive system, namely: suffer from stomach ulcers or duodenum, heartburn and increased stomach acidity. This is due to the high acidity of this product. People with gallbladder and liver problems should also limit their consumption of croutons.
Store-bought croutons, which are usually bought with beer, will undoubtedly cause harm. This snack contains a lot of harmful chemical additives as flavor enhancers, flavors and preservatives. Naturally, such breads will not bring any benefit, and their excessive consumption can cause significant harm to health and have a detrimental effect on the gastrointestinal tract.
To protect yourself from possible negative influence With such a product, it’s worth making croutons yourself at home, especially since it’s not at all difficult and takes a minimum of time and effort.
Toasts are a great dish that everyone loves, literally young and old. Croutons are very easy to make at home without any special culinary skills. The proposed diet on toast uses the very beneficial properties of black bread for weight loss.
In black bread contained large amount of vitamins group B, fibers fiber and other useful microelements. However toast are not the only component of this diet, but still, they will occupy honorary place of main ingredient such a weight loss system.
Duration of the toast diet in no case can't be long, because such a composition and diet, which provides mainly dry food not useful and healthy for proper functioning gastrointestinal human apparatus.
A mandatory strict condition of the diet on toast is compliance with drinking regime You should drink at least two and a half liters of fluid daily.
Recipe cooking croutons also contains some features, namely, they must be cooked no oil. That is, it could be a toaster or a steam frying pan. The croutons should look lightly browned, not overcooked or too hard.
As mentioned above, bread To prepare the crouton there must be only black, rye, baked from wholemeal flour. Only these varieties contain the largest amount of fiber and beneficial microelements. In addition, black bread has low calorie content. The prepared croutons should be sprinkled with finely chopped dill and parsley.
Sample diet menu for a diet on toast
The first day
Breakfast:
- 200 grams of fresh tomato juice.
Dinner:
- three small croutons;
- a small piece of boiled chicken breast;
- one glass of berry compote.
Dinner:
- two small croutons;
- 200 grams of low-fat kefir or natural yogurt.
Second day
Breakfast:
- two medium-sized croutons;
- a cup of natural unsweetened black coffee.
Dinner:
- two or three large croutons;
- 150 grams of low-fat cottage cheese;
- a glass of soy milk.
Dinner:
- two small croutons;
- 200 grams of low-fat yogurt with the addition of a small handful of fresh berries.
The diet menu of the first and second days should be used alternately. But even in two days of a crouton diet, you can easily get rid of one or two kilograms of excess weight.
Of course, the result is not very impressive, but for crouton lovers it looks very attractive. The toast diet belongs to the category of strict diets, so before you start following it, think carefully about whether you can cope with the task set for yourself.
