How to make croutons
You can buy bags of croutons ready made, but like anything else there might be a time when it is inconvenient to go out shopping: it's too late, you don't have enough money, it's freezing outside or you simply can't be bothered. You might also have a load of day-old bread lying about which would be better converted into something tasty than thrown away. It's also sometimes just good to do things by yourself. Whatever the reason, I think we've established the need for a page on how to do croutons, so here it is.
Croutons can be made to a variety of different recipes, but the process is similar for all. It basically involves chucking some wee cubes of bread into a hot oven until they go crispy. The simplest recipe is to use dry bread and nothing else. This makes rather plain croutons, but sometimes that's just what you need, for example in a salad that includes an oil-based dressing (like broccoli and cheese salad). If you want croutons for soups, however, I think it is better to coat the bread with oil or butter before putting it in the oven. If using butter, an easy way to do this is to spread butter on a slice of bread as if making a sandwich, sprinkle on a little salt and then cut the slice into cubes. Garlic butter croutons can be made the same way - sprinkle chopped garlic on the butter before cutting up the bread. Same goes for adding herbs.
Olive oil makes delicious croutons. Spread the bread with oil as you would with butter, or cut the bread into cubes first, and then toss them in a large bowl or pot in which you have poured a little oil. Sprinkle salt in as your tossing the bread cubes. If you want to add add herbs, add them to the oil before you put the bread in. Add any herbs you like. Oregano croutons are great with tomato soup. And you can add spices too. How about chili croutons?
It's not crucial to set the oven to a particular temperature. If it was, I would never be able to make croutons. A medium heat is about right and the length of time it takes for them to go crispy will depend on how fresh the bread was to start with and how small you make the cubes. Mix the croutons up a couple of times while they are baking, just to make sure they dry evenly. When they start to go a light golden-brown colour they are ready.
I should also mention that you can quickly make up a small batch of croutons in a frying pan. You'll generally have to use more oil or butter than you would to do them in the oven, but it's good to know you can do it in an emergency. Cut the cubes small - about 1 - 1.5 cm and fry them on a medium heat. Stir them as they are cooking so that they crisp and brown evenly, and add salt, finely chopped garlic or herbs towards the end of cooking.