Packaged croutons may lead the way in useless foods sold at the supermarket. For the price of a box of croutons you can buy a loaf of good bread, let it get stale, and make the equivalent of five boxes of terrific croutons, without chemistry-class additives—just olive oil and salt. Croutons, of course, are one of the many ways to use up leftover day-old bread (bread pudding, bread crumbs, and bread salad are some others), and to make really good ones you need the kind of bread that will actually get stale, not bagged, sliced sandwich loaves that just start growing mold once they’re past their prime. Really, any French- or Italian-style loaf will do, though the better the bread, the better the crouton. This is a recipe for the most basic of croutons—you could rub the torn bread with a peeled garlic clove or scatter some chopped fresh rosemary over it before it goes in the oven—but this is the place to start. Many people remove the crust from bread before making croutons; I do not.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 2 cups

　　1/2 pound good-quality bread, preferably a day or 2 old, crusts removed if you like

　　1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

　　Salt to taste

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Tear or cut the bread into roughly 1-inch pieces; don’t worry about making them uniform. Toss with the olive oil and place on a baking sheet.

　　

Step 2

Bake for about 15 minutes, until crisp and lightly colored on the outside but still tender inside. Season with salt and cool; you can make these up to a day in advance if you like.

　　

Neater, Stovetop Croutons

Step 3

These are great at the bottom of a bowl of soup; throw in some minced garlic if you like: Take 10 or so 1-inch-thick slices of baguette or other long loaf and brown lightly in enough olive oil to coat the bottom of your skillet, adding more olive oil if necessary (start with 1/4 cup). Use medium-low heat and try to brown evenly and fairly slowly (it’s an easy process, so your only real job is to avoid burning). Sprinkle with salt or set aside (uncovered) for up to a day before using.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.