Homemade Panko vs Homemade Bread Crumb

Coating the food such as meat, chicken, fish and vegetables before deep frying are a simple way to make tasty meals. Breading not only gives your food a crisp and crunchy texture, but also keeps your food moist after deep frying. For coating, you can use regular bread crumb or Panko (japanese bread crumb).  

Panko´s texture is rough and larger than regular crumb. It looks more like flakes than crumbs.  This texture gives a crispier coating. Panko absorbs less fat. Therefore
you will have a lighter, less-greasy coating.

You can find Panko easily in Asian markets.  But if you are living in a western country, you might not have time to drop by to your local Asian market, just to buy panko!  Why not make it by your self?

You can also make this Japanese style bread crumb, with white bread and simple tools like oven and just food shredder. Even though in japan, panko goes through a special process (it is electrocuted).

I will tell you how to make Panko and regular bread crumb as well. Let´s get started!

Homemade Panko VS Homemade Bread Crumb

Ingredients:

For panko, you will need: 

• White toast ( white bread) without crust
• Food shredder (grater)       

For regular bread crumb, you will need:

• Any type of bread (white, wheat, rye) 
• Food processor or finer food shredder

Method:
For panko: 

• Preheat oven to 50°C/120°F.
• Cut the brown crust from white bread.
• Let the white bread rest in preheated oven for about 60-70 minutes.
• Remove it from oven and let it cool.
• Shred the white bread, so you will have the flake form.

For regular bread crumb:

• Preheat oven to 50°C/120°F.
• Slice the bread, to make small pieces.  
• Let small pieces of bread rest in preheated oven for about 60-70 minutes.
• Remove it from oven and let it cool.
• Put it into food processor until you have the sandy texture crumbs. Or just shred it with finer food shredder.

Note:

1. Don´t use stale bread.  
2. We use preheated oven not to bake it, but this process makes bread dry (take away the water content). That is why, we use the minimum heat temperature.  You can set the temperature higher but you need to control it frequently.
3. Make sure the bread is cooled thoroughly, before you shred or process it.
4. Store the crumb in air-tight container.