Just turned a sows ear into a silk purse as the saying goes.

[yy4me]

Yesterday I went grocery shopping among other errands I had to do. Since I was running late and did not have time to stop at the bakery for bread, I bought the store brand "fresh baked baguette". The thing was about 30" long, looked fine.

When I tell you this was the worst bread I have ever had, it is no exaggeration. Tasted like sawdust and felt like powdered crumbs in my mouth. Rather than throw it out, I immediately cut it up into smallish squares, let it dry out overnight.

Just turned that disaster of a loaf into great croutons.

Sauteed mashed garlic clove in olive oil, very low heat for about 20 minutes. Let cool few minutes.
Added more olive oil to make about 1/4 cup

Put this into blender,
guessed at how much to use and added:

Parsley
Basil
Oregano(not much)
Salt & pepper

Pulsed the heck out of this mixture.

In a big bowl, I added my bread squares and poured the mixture over the bread.
Tossed the heck out of it to coat all the bread cubes.

Spread on large heavy jelly roll pan.
Put into 325 degree over and kept my eye on it.
The cubes turned a nice golden brown.

Tasted one
Great.
Will cool and jar them up for future use.

[Warpy]

1. That's the best thing about lousy store bought bread

It makes much better croutons than my homemade bread does. Their fine crumb and squishy balloon bread texture seems to toast up into the lightest croutons possible, mostly flavored air. Croutons made out of my own bread are tooth breakers.