The Art of Gluten Free Breadcrumbery.
Question: Since when did we start buying breadcrumbs? Rant time: This seems absolutely ridiculous. I’ve been watching YouTube home cooks over the past week to learn about doing batch freezer meals (which is a topic for another post), and many of their recipes call for breadcrumbs.
Enter the pre-packaged breadcrumb container.
But why use premade breadcrumbs? Am I the only person who has a bag of frozen bread heels sitting in the freezer that everyone in the family refuses to eat?
Which leads me to today’s post: Breadcrumbs.
Honestly, I couldn’t remember coming across any recipes from the 1700s-1800s that called for breadcrumbs, or that discussed making breadcrumbs. To be fair, I usually gloss over bread recipes because we’re gluten free by allergy and generally speaking it’s a toss up as to whether you want to eat a gluten free baked good or just starve. So, I set out to see if I could find breadcrumbs in a cookbook – because it seems like such a 20th century manufactured product.
Et voilà !
We find Breadcrumbs to fry following Blancmange, with fruit, and proceeding Bread, English, to make.
To Fry Breadcrumbs
The recipe itself shows us how to turn bread into breadcrumbs using a sieve, and then how to fry them for … maybe garnish or toppings? As a home cook, you could easily stop after the first step and just use those breadcrumbs as you would in your recipes regularly.
Love it!
Now perhaps this discovery isn’t a big deal for most and you’re fine shelling out for pre-packaged convenience, but as a gluten free family, anything gluten free tends to cost 200% more than the regular gluten option – and you have to go hunting for the item at a specialty store. Gluten free panko breadcrumbs, anyone?? But this homemade approach turns something that’s largely inedible – the end pieces of gluten free bread accumulating listlessly in the back of the freezer – into something that’s needed.
Let’s give it a try.
Sieves work well. If you have a food processor, even better!
Source: The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined, 1807.
Convivial Supper 
My mother used to make her own cracker meal (two sheets and wax paper and a rolling pin) as well as bread crumbs. We hardened the bread a bit, then grated it. I use a blender. So much better than storebought, but I do keep that on hand to use in a pinch.
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Really good points! I discovered that my bread wasn’t nearly as stale as it needed to be to really get the job done quickly – it still worked, but would have been easier if it were a bit harder. I love the idea of a blender! Not everyone owns a food processor, but most will have a blender.
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