How to Make Bread Cubes That Will Absorb Maximum Flavor

You'll often find bread cubes in the ingredient list of stuffing recipes, egg casseroles, and decadent bread puddings, but unless you're at a specialty bakery or a store with an extensive offering of baked goods, you're not likely to find this ingredient in the aisles of your grocery store. Don't let that deter you.

Making bread cubes is a cinch. Plus, it puts you entirely in charge of flavors and cube size. Enhance the sweetness of your bread pudding by using cinnamon-swirl bread. Or add heartiness to your Thanksgiving stuffing when you use pumpernickel bread. The options are as endless as the bread aisle. So cut your bread into cubes, dry them in the oven, and get cooking.

How to Make Bread Cubes

It makes no difference if you need to know how to cube French bread, sourdough, challah, or another type of bread. Follow these steps to cut bread cubes.

• Stack a few slices of bread.
• Using a serrated knife, cut the bread into ½-inch strips.
• Cut the strips crosswise into ½-inch cubes.

How to Dry Bread Cubes

Now that you've got the bread cubes cut, you need to dry them. The drying step helps the bread absorb the maximum flavor and liquid from your recipe without getting soggy. Here's how to complete the toasted bread cubes.

• Arrange bread cubes in a single layer on a shallow baking pan ($13, Target).
• Bake the cubes at 300°F for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden, stirring once or twice.
• Let cool

Test Kitchen Tip: This is the starting point of homemade bread crumbs, too. Process cubes into crumbs to complete that process.

Pretty simple, right? If bread cubes are needed as part of your Thanksgiving menu or another time when you have lots of other cooking to do, you can make dried bread cubes several days in advance. Just be sure to let them cool completely before storing them at room temperature.