I once watched a chef demonstrate a dish for a gluten-free audience. As he nonchalantly tossed a leftover slice of gluten-free bread into the garbage, the crowd uttered a collective gasp. “How could he throw away gluten-free bread?” At my house, any leftover or stale bread is immediately whirled into bread crumbs in my mini food processor and stored in the freezer. Although I can buy gluten-free bread crumbs in grocery stores, it is much cheaper and better tasting to make my own. If I keep my stash of bread crumbs in the freezer, they don’t go stale and they are always available, especially in the small amounts called for in this book. So, I suggest you make your own. Here’s how to do it.
Start with bread torn into small pieces; you’ll need about 4 cups. If you want to make Italian bread crumbs, add 1 teaspoon onion powder and 4 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning. Pulse on and off in a food processor until the crumbs reach the desired consistency. For bread crumbs that are lighter in color and that brown uniformly, cut the crusts from the bread before processing. This amount of bread will make about 2 cups of bread crumbs.
Store bread crumbs tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 3 months. Keep these on hand for all sorts of recipes including Crab Cakes (see recipe), Spaghetti and Meatballs (see recipe), and Meat Loaf (see recipe).