How do you make breadcrumbs? Any alternatives?

[klmwong]

Hiya,

So how do you make breadcrumbs?

I have no food processor and have already tried leaving stale bread out for a day and that wasn't great because I still ended up chopping the bread into tiny bits myself and got SO fed up.

I have seen recipes talking about "oven dried breadcrumbs". Do I literally put slices of bread into a low oven to dry out? If so what temp and roughly how long?

Does anyone have any alternatives to breadcrumbs? I am considering trying the bits left in the weetabix box. Also I ahve seen (Annabel Karmel?) a suggestion to use crushed up cornflakes. However I wanted something "softer" and suitable for a toddler and a 10m baby.

Thanks for any help.

MW

Do you have a hand blender? They don't cost much - and even if you never use them for baby food they're great for soup - and you can whizz up stale bread in those.

I put the stale bread, with crusts removed, into a large freezer bag and smash the hell out of it with the rolling pin. It's an idea to put a couple of small holes in the bag to allow the air to escape and to prevent it 'blowing up' in your face at the first smack

split some pitta bread and leave to dry ouy for about 20 mins

Scrunch up the dry pittas.....BREADCRUMBS!

my mum used to dry chunks of bread in the oven (low setting) and then use Ivor's method to smash it into toasted breadcrumbs.

I put slices in the hand-blender then spread tthem on a baking sheet and toast them

If you want soft white breadcrumb, buy a whole loaf, let it go stale for a couple of days, then cut it in half and gouge the breadcrumbs out with your fingers

If you only want a few then you can do it by rubbing the (slightly stale) bread by hand - not chopping with a knife.

Depending on the recipe, you could possibly use polenta grains as an alternative.

i used cous cous in a breadless household one day. also oatmeal v successful.