How and at what temperature to dry bread crackers correctly

To make white bread crackers perfect, the easiest way is to use the oven, observing the following conditions.

The pieces should be small so that 1-2 crackers fit on a spoon, so the bread should be cut into cubes with a side equal to approximately 1.5-2 cm.
When laying out pieces of bread on a baking sheet, you need to make sure that they lie evenly, in one layer, preferably not close to each other.
The baking tray must be dry; there is no need to grease it with oil.
Preheat the oven to 170-180 degrees.
If the oven switch is not equipped with a temperature scale, but with numbered divisions, then you can be guided by the following diagram: with a number of divisions from 7 to 9, the desired temperature will be at 3 or 4, with a number of 5 or less - at 1 or 2.
When the bread cubes have been in the oven for 10 minutes, they need to be taken out and stirred, then placed back for another 10-15 minutes.
To make sure the crackers are ready, you can try one at a time from different edges of the baking sheet and, if necessary, keep on the fire for another 3-5 minutes with the door ajar.

How to dry croutons

By adding vegetable oil, cheese, garlic, herbs or other spicy or sweet seasonings to white bread, you can easily turn ordinary crackers into croutons.

Cut white bread or loaf into cubes.
Mix 2-3 tbsp. l. vegetable or melted butter with 1 tsp.granulated garlic (you can use fresh, but it can burn) and stir until the granules are completely dissolved.
You can optionally add any other seasoning to this mixture, such as dried parsley or a mixture of Provençal herbs.

Line a baking tray with baking paper, place the sliced bread on it and pour the prepared butter evenly over it.
Place in an oven preheated to 160-170 degrees and dry for 15 minutes until golden brown.
Stir the croutons and leave to dry for another 15 minutes.

To prepare sweet toasts that melt in your mouth for tea, you need to replace the filling in the above recipe with a mixture of melted butter with sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.

How to dry loaf or baked bread croutons in the oven for dessert

A butter bun or loaf is an excellent raw material for delicate, sweetish crackers, which can be prepared even without sugar - it is already present in sufficient quantities in their composition.

Sugar and fine flour make such crackers especially sensitive to high temperatures: they dry out quickly, and you need to turn off the oven in time to prevent burning.

Cut the loaf into bars 1.5-2 cm thick and place it on a baking sheet in one layer.
Place the baking sheet in the oven (do not preheat it) and set the temperature to 130-150 degrees.
As the oven warms up, the loaf will begin to dry out, and after 10 minutes. It’s time to open the door and try how hard the crackers have become: even if only the top layer has dried, but the inside is still soft, you can turn off the fire and let the bars stand inside until they cool completely.
To obtain a pronounced blush, you can increase the temperature to 180-185 degrees, and the drying time by 5-7 minutes.

If desired, you can add butter and powdered sugar here, but the natural taste of the dried pastry is pleasant in itself, and it is important not to drown it out with additives.

How to dry black bread crackers in the oven, how much and at what temperature

You can cook them without oil and without spices; to do this, just follow a few simple rules.

Black bread is dense, it has small pores, so you need to cut it into thin long slices if the crackers are planned as a snack for beer (to make it convenient to pick them up with your hands and dip them in the sauce), and into small cubes for salads and soups.

Place the baking sheet in the oven, heated to 180 degrees, and keep it for about half an hour, stirring the contents periodically.
The drying time can be adjusted depending on what properties you want to give to the crackers: the longer they sit in the oven, the crispier and tougher they will turn out.

The crackers will acquire the classic salty taste if you sprinkle them with a salt solution before drying; you can use iodized or sea salt. You can also treat sliced bread with a bouillon cube diluted in water.

Advice

Stale bread can be sprinkled with a solution of salt or spices immediately after slicing, while fresh bread should be sprayed 10 minutes beforehand. dry in the oven. The drying time for moistened pieces increases by 10-15 minutes. compared to crackers without additives.

Rusks for homemade kvass

Dark varieties of bread are taken as a basis: rye, Borodinsky, Darnitsky, Riga. Dried crusts of black bread are well suited for dark kvass, and the crumb needs to be baked quite thoroughly until it darkens.To get a light drink, it is better to cut off the dark bread crusts altogether.

The bread is cut into slices 1 cm thick and laid out on a dry baking sheet.
The baking sheet is placed in an oven heated to 180 degrees.
The total drying time should be about 40 minutes, during which you need to stir the crackers several times, making sure that they all turn over.
The finished crackers are removed from the oven, but you need to leave 3-4 pieces on the baking sheet, which should be brought to a slight charring of the corners at a temperature of 200 degrees - these crackers should give the kvass a pleasant brown color and a barely noticeable caramel flavor.

There is another way:

All the crumb is carefully removed from the loaf and must be manually turned into fine crumbs.
The remaining crust is finely chopped.
The resulting mixture of crumbs and chopped crust is evenly distributed on a baking sheet and placed in an oven preheated to 160 degrees.
The drying time is only 5-10 minutes and the breadcrumbs for kvass are ready.

General recommendations for all types of crackers

The bread should be cut into pieces of the same thickness and size so that they dry evenly.
The temperature of an electric oven and the drying time are inversely proportional to each other: the higher the temperature, the faster the bread will dry; The lower the temperature, the longer it will take until fully cooked.
The coarser the flour from which the bread is made, the thinner the pieces need to be made and the higher the temperature required.
To prepare crackers, an electric oven heating mode such as convection is useful: circulation of hot air will ensure faster and more uniform drying.If there is no such function, a slightly open oven door will help achieve a similar effect.
You can use any oil: sunflower, olive, flaxseed, coconut, mustard, sesame, corn and others. The shelf life of crackers prepared with the addition of butter is much shorter than regular crackers.
Rusks without oil and spices (with the exception of salt) should be stored separately from fresh bread at a temperature of 0 to 15-20 degrees and a humidity of no more than 70%. As a container, you can use a bag made of natural fabric, a glass jar or a plastic container. When storing in the refrigerator, the container must be airtight.

By observing these conditions, you can preserve the product in its original form for several months. If any oil or fat was used in making crackers, they should be eaten within the first few days: they cannot be stored for long.