Ordinary breadcrumbs are grated or ground dry white bread. Names such as breadcrumbs , breadcrumbs , breadcrumbs , or breadcrumbs are also used regionally.
Use in the kitchen:
Breadcrumbs can be used to gratinate casseroles or to give them a crust. In addition to being used for savory dishes, toasted and sweetened breadcrumbs can also be used for desserts such as fruit dumplings (apricots, plums), in apple strudel, as a crumble or when baking cakes as a separating agent between the greased cake tin and the cake batter. In Polish cuisine, breadcrumbs are used in the polonaise, a garnish for vegetables. Panko is the Japanese version of breadcrumbs, it consists of ground, crust-free white bread. 1
However, breadcrumbs are mainly used for breading meat (schnitzel), fish or vegetables. The white flour they contain helps to give dumpling dishes, fillings or vegetable patties a cohesive and firm mass so that they do not fall apart when cooked or fried.
When cooking with breadcrumbs made from wholemeal bread, you should use more liquid so that the breading does not turn out too dry.
A Viennese speciality is plum dumplings, called Zwetschkenknödel with a "k" there and actually a dish of Austrian, Hungarian and Czech cuisine (hence the spelling with a k). Zwetschkenknödel are a type of pastry that is sprinkled with breadcrumbs.
Vegan recipe for plum dumplings:
Ingredients for the dough: 800 g floury potatoes , 60 g margarine , 6 tbsp flour , 2 tbsp soy flour, 2 tbsp water , 4 tbsp wheat semolina , 1 pinch of salt . You also need: 12 plums , 100 g breadcrumbs, 100 g margarine, 1 pinch of salt and powdered sugar for sprinkling.
Steam the washed potatoes until soft, then drain, peel and press through a potato ricer. Alternatively, you can mash them or finely crush them with a fork. Add melted margarine, salt, flour, soy flour, water and semolina to the potatoes and quickly knead into a firm dough. Cover and leave to rest for about 10 minutes. You can (but don't have to) carefully remove the stones from the washed plums beforehand. You shouldn't halve them, just carefully cut them. Form the potato part into a roll and cut off 1-2 cm slices and wrap them around each plum. The plum should be well sealed.
Bring water to the boil in a large saucepan, add salt and carefully add the dumplings. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes. The water should no longer be boiling and the dumplings should not be touching each other. In the meantime, melt the margarine in a pan, add the breadcrumbs and fry until golden brown, stirring constantly. Then roll the vegan plum dumplings in the water and serve sprinkled with powdered sugar.
In addition to potato dough, yeast, curd or choux pastry are also available. Instead of breadcrumbs, a mixture of ground poppy seeds and caster sugar is used in Bohemia. The dumplings can also be sprinkled with icing sugar, cinnamon sugar or crushed gingerbread crumbs.
| Not only vegans or vegetarians should read this: Vegans often eat unhealthily. Avoidable nutritional mistakes . |
Shopping - where to buy?
You can find ordinary breadcrumbs in all supermarkets and large retailers such as (in German-speaking countries) Coop , Migros , Denner , Volg , Spar , Aldi , Lidl , Rewe , Edeka , Hofer etc. However, not all of them have gluten-free breadcrumbs or even vegan breadcrumbs in their range. You can also rarely find organic products there.
Even gluten-free breadcrumbs often contain quite a lot of additives, as this example shows: corn starch, water, rice flour, tapioca starch, yeast, dextrose, sugar, olive oil, table salt, emulsifier: E 471, dietary fibre (from psyllium), thickeners: guar gum and E 464, lupin protein, buckwheat flour.
A second example (also gluten-free): rice flour, corn starch, soy flour, palm fat, eggs, glucose syrup, thickener: guar gum, yeast, salt. May contain traces of lupins contain.
When shopping, look for vegan, lactose-free breadcrumbs or get vegan bread rolls and make them yourself. Breadcrumbs without eggs and milk can usually be found in health food stores, organic shops or online shops. They often also have vegan breadcrumbs made from spelt.
Homemade breadcrumbs:
Some cooks prefer homemade breadcrumbs and swear by a better, finer taste. If you have old bread rolls from the day before, you can easily make your own breadcrumbs. First, cut the old white bread, wholemeal bread or vegan bread into small cubes. To make cutting easier, it is important that the rolls or baguette still contain some residual moisture. To dry, store the cubes in a linen bag or cotton bag in an airy place. To avoid mold formation, use smaller amounts per bag.
You can also place the white bread cubes on a baking tray lined with baking paper and let them air dry. In a food processor with a blade attachment, an old coffee grinder or a hand blender, grind the cubes into fine breadcrumbs. If you don't have any electrical tools available, you can grate the dry bread (not cut into cubes!) finely or coarsely with a vegetable grater. 2
Storage:
Homemade breadcrumbs will last for months or years if dried properly in screw-top jars with lids. Once you have opened purchased breadcrumbs, it is best to put them in a well-sealable tin or screw-top jar and place them in a dark, cool place. This will protect the breadcrumbs from pests. Since ground bread often contains small amounts of cooking fat or butter, storing them in a place that is too bright and warm can lead to a rancid taste. 3
Ingredients - nutritional value - calories:
Breadcrumbs contain flour (from wheat or spelt ), salt ( sea or table salt ), yeast and sometimes oil (usuallysunflower oil ). Healthier versions contain wholemeal groats or cereal bran and keep you full for longer than breadcrumbs made from white bread.
Breadcrumbs made in factories often contain ascorbic acid as a flour treatment agent. In addition, the packaging often states "May contain sesame, soy, nuts, lupins, eggs and milk". Breadcrumbs made from rusks may contain milk, eggs, butter or margarine in addition to the ingredients listed above. Rusks are baked white bread made from yeast dough that is cut into slices and toasted again in the oven. When buying breadcrumbs, consider the heating processes necessary for making rusks.
Health aspects - effects:
In general, it can be said that breadcrumbs are not good for your health. The white flour (wheat or spelt) they contain causes blood sugar levels to rise very quickly, which promotes diabetes. Salt and fat are other products that have a negative effect on our health if consumed in excessive quantities. If you absolutely need breadcrumbs for cooking, it is important to use milk-, egg- and fat-free products that contain whole grain spelt and are organically produced.
Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects:
Whether made from wheat or spelt, ordinary breadcrumbs definitely contain gluten. People with gluten intolerance or celiac disease need to be particularly careful of this. Symptoms can begin with mild stomach pain and lead to diarrhea, constipation, flatulence or vomiting. Some also notice skin changes or get headaches or migraines. Well-stocked supermarkets and specialty shops also sell gluten-free breadcrumbs. These are made from rice, corn, dextrose and salt.
A study by the cantonal laboratory in Basel (Switzerland) shows that 6 out of 28 breadcrumbs tested lacked information about allergens they contained. No nut allergens (such as walnuts, cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, pecans, macadamia nuts and peanuts) were found. However, traces of sesame, eggs, milk and almonds were found in some products without any declaration. Hazelnuts, lupins and soy were detected using PCR methods in those products that also contained a corresponding declaration. For sensitive allergy sufferers, the use of industrially produced breadcrumbs can be problematic, even if the quantities detected are below 1 g/kg and thus comply with the law. 4
General information:
The term breadcrumbs comes from the French word "paner", which means "to sprinkle with grated bread". These can also be grated bread rolls.
It is not clear who invented breadcrumbs or whether the idea arose from overproduction. But in times like these, when there is definitely too much bread, it is a good idea to turn old bread into breadcrumbs instead of throwing it away.
Literature - Sources:
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