Once you've made these easy homemade croutons, you'll never go back to store-bought!

INGREDIENTS

1 day-old 8 oz. sourdough baguette
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 425 °F. Chop the day-old baguette into quarter-inch to half-inch cubes, and place them in a large mixing bowl. Toss with the olive oil, salt, and garlic powder. Use your hand or a flexible spatula to coat each chunk of bread.

Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet, and distribute the bread chunks evenly, on one layer. If the pieces don't fit onto a single layer, use a second baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, then test if the croutons are crisp. They should look well-toasted and be crunchy, but not so crispy to have burned edges. If the croutons are soft after 10 minutes, put them back in for approx. 2 minutes more. The exact time will depend on how dry the bread was and the size of the chunks.

Let cool for 10 minutes. Once cooled, enjoy on top of a salad immediately, or store in an air-tight container in a cool cabinet for up to a month.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

If using a smaller amount of leftover bread, adjust the oil, salt, and garlic powder accordingly, but the cooking time will remain the same.

White sourdough or other white bread baguettes work best here, because of the lower moisture content, but you can experiment with other dry bread as well.