Fresh Bread Crumbs are made by breaking up fresh or stale bread into very small morsels. They are used for stuffings, fillers, sauces, and for buttered bread crumb toppings.
You generally can’t buy these in stores, but you can make them ahead and store in freezer bags in the freezer.
To make fresh bread crumbs
Making fresh breadcrumbs is a great use for stale bread. Whiz pieces of it in a blender or food processor until you’ve got small crumbles. They won’t be powdery like dried bread crumbs, and shouldn’t be. Or, tear by hand into very small pieces. You can’t use the rolling pin or box grate trick for fresh crumbs, as the bread will just moosh on you.
Stale bread is actually better to use than fresh bread: fresh bread can go all doughy and its crumbs bunch together when you try to make crumbs from it.
Some say to remove the crust when making fresh bread crumbs. These people obviously didn’t grow up in a normal mother’s household, or they would have gotten a whack for doing that. Besides, it’s completely unnecessary: there is a lot of flavour and texture in the crusts.
Substitutes
Pitas, Tortillas or any kind of soft flat bread.
Equivalents
¼ cup fresh bread crumbs = .75 oz = 19g = ⅓ slice fresh bread
¾ cup fresh bread crumbs = 2.25 oz = 60g = 1 slice of fresh bread
1 cup fresh bread crumbs = 3 oz = 75g = 1 ¼ slices of fresh bread