Recipe: Butter croutons

start with a little butter

These croutons are always a hit.  Sometimes you almost need to hide them to keep from snacking on them they are so good.  The secret?  A copious amount of butter.  You are having a salad, so why not indulge a little in the garnish?  As for the butter, if you want to do it right, you need to do it right.  Of course once the croutons are made, they get well drained on paper towel, and believe it or not, for all the butteriness in the flavour, they don't come across as greasy.  The expense of the butter?  Fear not, I am a frugal person and part of the joy in making these croutons is the beautiful by-product it makes.  When all the croutons are removed from the pan, you are left with a lovely supply of delicious brown butter.  Strain it and save it in the fridge for your next evil project.  The Brown butter and malted beer pie crust probably wouldn't have happened the same if not for these croutons.

This recipe is less about specific amounts than technique.  For sake of reference, the batch I made in the pictures used a large loaf of french bread and I made sure I had at least 3 pounds of butter room temperature before I started.  I didn't use all of the butter, but it's important to have enough at room temperature because you invariably keep adding butter to the pan throughout the cooking process.  Don't rush the croutons if you can avoid it, they come out the most evenly coloured at a lower medium heat. 

saturate

The foaming stage is not only the most fun and exciting part for butter enthusiasts, it's the most important factor in the pursuit of even colouring - when you get it right and the butter is foaming right up to the tops of the bread cubes, you are essentially deep frying the croutons - all the surfaces of the cubes are getting cooked at the same time as opposed to just the side touching the pan.  You still need to toss the croutons a lot to keep from over-colouring the bottom layer, but it goes a long way to ensuring your success.  I like the pure butter crouton as it is with just a bit of kosher salt for seasoning, but if you want to add some flavours, the foaming stage is also the time for that.  A couple smashed cloves of garlic and whole fresh herbs added at the foaming stage produce some fantastic flavours.  Thyme and rosemary seem particularly well suited and impart a lot of flavour.  Black pepper? Always a welcome addition. 

You will need:

1 loaf                    day old bread (French)

needs a tiny bit more butter

2 -3 lbs                 unsalted butter (room temperature)
to taste                  kosher salt
as desired             aromatics - garlic, herbs, black pepper etc.

Method:

 - cube up the bread without any crust
 - let the bread cubes firm up by leaving them out (or in the fridge) uncovered overnight -this helps keep the "cube"
 - get a large saute pan over low-medium heat to warm up
 - get a "draining tray" lined with paper towel and have a slotted spoon ready
 - drop several large spoonfuls of butter into the pan - they should sizzle a bit, but not smoke

good foaming stage

 - when you have a nice layer of butter lining the pan, add a good solid layer of bread (don't add it all if it won't fit)
 - toss the bread cubes to coat with butter - you will probably need to add more butter
 - add butter as necessary to ensure that the bread cubes are nicely saturated (this is good)
 - toss periodically and watch for excess butter in the pan to start foaming
 - add a bit more butter
 - toss again and watch to see how quickly the butter re-foams and how high it rises
 - add more butter and toss and repeat until you have the foam rising to the tops of the cubes
 - add any aromatics you want to add now
 - season lightly with kosher salt
 - keep tossing periodically and monitor the colour (it can take a while, be patient)
 - when the croutons are a nice golden brown, take the pan away from the heat to the draining tray
 - tilt the pan so the butter flows to one side and push the croutons to the other
 - with the slotted spoon, take the drained croutons out of the pan and lay on the draining dray
 - remove the aromatics
 - keep the excess butter in the pan, return to the heat and repeat as necessary until all the bread cubes are cooked
 - use a fine mesh sieve to strain out that beautiful brown butter for another day
 - let the croutons cool and crisp up
 - serve               

GBD - golden brown and delicious