I absolutely love boulé and sourdough bread, the big crusty loaves you can get from Whole Paycheck or Iggy's or where have you. Because I can never eat them by myself before they get crustified and dry, I usually save them for Houseguests. This weekend such a loaf found its way to my abode for the making of Leftover Turkey Sammiches (toasted sourdough, smashed fresh avocado, homemade honey mustard, Ink's leftover turkey, and super sharp cheddar...drool).
Turkey's gone. Bread is in sad shape. I've got a pot of veggie-white bean soup that I need to eat but damn it, its boring, even though I included radishes in it. Solution: Supah Dupah Garlic Croutons. I've never made croutons before and they're just coming out of the oven in batches now (of course I am plucking them out individually as they brown to perfection-- my pan was crowded and the bread not perfectly sized. Normally I HATE the nasty, dried out boogers that people inexplicably buy at the store and prefer to have good ones from real restaurants (Travato's in Omaha, NE, comes to mind--they used to cube and deep fat fry their leftover Italian bread. Awesome). The Tindallator's mother also fries them on the stovetop in BUTTER but as you know, baking is easier for me at the moment.
My method:
Cut bread into cubes, crush 4-6 cloves of garlic into about 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add a nice big fat pinch of salt, some Cubeb pepper, and crushed red pepper.
Transfer bread to large bowl, drizzle garlic-oil mixtures over bread, and stir with hands (this is not a first-date friendly recipe). Spread on pan, bake @ 400 - 425, and remove croutons with tongs as they finish.
I'm going to use these babies on the soup I have, then the rest on a salad this weekend.
Let's eat one...
I KNEW THERE WAS A REASON I DID THIS. HELL YEAH.
Except I am not allowed to make out with anyone for at least 24 hours.
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