This week’s recipe tests proved that two wrongs can…make delicious breadcrumbs! Periodically, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen creating new gluten-free recipes. I cook, record what I think I’ve done, and then prepare the recipe again to see if I’ve gotten it right. If I have, the recipe is ready to be sent to out for a final test. If I haven’t, I try again. I think biscuits took about 9 tries, but the result is definitely worth it.
Anyway, this week I was concentrating on a new yeast roll and sandwich bread. The first batch of rolls went a little long in the oven, so I tweaked the baking time and the second batch was delicious! Confident, I started on the bread.
I wanted a really wet dough for the sandwich bread. I was happy when I poured it out of the bowl into the baking pan. Unfortunately, I filled the pan too full. It rose beautifully, but once I put it in the oven, began to rise over and drip down and around the pan. The good news is, the stalagmites formed by the dripping dough were incredibly good. The bad news is, the bread would not hold together when sliced thin.
At the end of the day, I had 10 rolls and a loaf of bread that were less than satisfactory. As you know, gluten-free flours don’t come cheap, so I wanted to put the mistakes to good use. I thought about making bread pudding, but decided I wasn’t in the mood for dessert. After exploring other options like croutons, I landed on bread crumbs as the thing I would use the most. I freeze them for later use in tuna croquettes and stuffed mushrooms or to top casseroles. I can also use them in meatballs or meatloaf.
With my bread crumb plan, I let the bread sit for a couple of days, then crumbled it into a flat pan and placed it in a 200º oven for an hour, stirring every 15 to 20 minutes. I then let them sit out on top of the stove for the rest of the day. Sometimes, I’ll let the crumbs sit uncovered in a cool oven for an additional day.
Once the crumbs were dry, I placed them in a food chopper and ground them for a few seconds to make them more uniform. They were then ready to be put in an airtight container and stored in the freezer.
My sister is sometimes hesitant to try new things in the kitchen because she wants all her efforts to turn out well. I don’t worry so much about the first result because my mistakes are often fortuitous in one way or another. This week two wrongs made great breadcrumbs. Who knows what next week’s failings may contribute? I’m looking forward to finding out!
