Bread crumbs or breadcrumbs (regional variants including breading and crispies) consist of crumbled

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

of various dryness, sometimes with seasonings added, used for breading or crumbing foods, topping

casserole A casserole ( French: diminutive of , from Provençal 'pan') is a normally large deep pan or bowl a casserole is anything in a casserole pan. Hot or cold History Baked dishes have existed for thousands of years. Early casserole recipes ...

s, stuffing poultry, thickening

stew A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. A stew needs to have raw ingredients added to the gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables and ...

s, adding inexpensive bulk to soups, meatloaves and similar foods, and making a crisp and crunchy covering for fried foods, especially breaded cutlets like tonkatsu and schnitzel. The Japanese variety of bread crumbs is called ''panko''.

Types

Dry

Dry breadcrumbs are made from dry breads which have been baked or toasted to remove most remaining moisture, and may have a sandy or even powdery texture. Bread crumbs are most easily produced by pulverizing slices of bread in a food processor, using a steel blade to make coarse crumbs, or a grating blade to make fine crumbs. A grater or similar tool will also do.

Fresh

The breads used to make soft or fresh bread crumbs are not quite as dry, so the crumbs are larger and produce a softer coating, crust, or stuffing. The ''crumb'' of ''bread crumb'' also refers to the texture of the soft, inner part of a bread loaf, as distinguished from the crust, or "skin".

Panko

is a type of flaky bread crumbs used in Japanese cuisine as a crunchy coating for fried foods, such as '' tonkatsu''. Panko is made from bread baked by electrical current, which yields a bread without a crust, and then grinding the bread to create fine slivers of crumb. It has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found in

Western cuisine European cuisine comprises the cuisines of Europe "European Cuisine."Asian markets, speciality stores, and many large

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

s. Panko is produced worldwide, particularly in Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, and Vietnam.

Etymology

The Japanese first learned to make bread from Europeans. The word ''パン粉 (panko)'' is derived from ''pan'', giving us the word for bread in Japanese (derived from the Portuguese word "pão" for bread), and ''-粉 (-ko)'', a Japanese Kanji indicating "

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

", "coating", "crumb", or "powder" on occasion, when used as a suffix; (as in ''komeko'', "rice powder", ''sobako'', " buckwheat flour", and ''komugiko'', " wheat flour").

Breading

Breading (also known as crumbing) is a dry

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

-derived food coating for a piece of food made from bread crumbs or a breading mixture with seasonings. Breading is well suited for

frying Frying is the cooking of food in oil or another fat. Similar to sautéing, pan-fried foods are generally turned over once or twice during cooking to make sure that the food is well-made, using tongs or a spatula, while sautéed foods are cooked ...

as it lends itself to creating a crisp coating around the food. Breading mixtures can be made of breadcrumb,

cornmeal Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) or a cell membrane ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', ...

, and

seasoning Seasoning is the process of supplementing food via herbs, spices, salts, and/or sugar, intended to enhance a particular flavour. General meaning Seasonings include herbs and spices, which are themselves frequently referred to as "seasonings". Ho ...

that the item to be breaded is dredged in before cooking. If the item to be breaded is too dry for the coating to stick, the item may first be moistened with buttermilk, raw

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

, egg wash or other liquid. Breading contrasts with

batter Batter or batters may refer to: Common meanings * Batter (cooking), thin dough that can be easily poured into a pan * Batter (baseball), person whose turn it is to face the pitcher * Batter (cricket), a player who is currently batting * Batter ...

, which is a grain-based liquid coating for food that produces a smoother and finer texture, but which can be softer overall.

In popular culture

In the fairy tale " Hansel and Gretel", breadcrumbs are used by Hansel and Gretel to track their footpath. However, the bread crumbs were eventually eaten by birds, subsequently leading them to become lost in the woods. The popularity of breadcrumbs in the fairy tale led to the use of the word " breadcrumb" as a navigation element that allows users to keep track of their locations within programs or documents.

Gallery

File:990402-ians-recipe-01-IMG 4724.jpg, Bread fried in breadcrumbs and stuffed with chicken and corn File:Panko - Paprika - 3.jpg, Panko breadcrumbs with paprika flavour File:Panko - White - 2.jpg, Panko white breadcrumbs File:971027-I'ANS-ATN-IMG 8772.jpg, IANS simple breadcrumbs File:Tonkatsu at Butagumi in Nishi-Azabu.jpg, alt=Close up of Japanese breaded tonkatsu, Panko on Tonkatsu File:971110-ILIA-Vanak-IMG 8870-2.jpg, alt=Fried shrimp, Fried shrimp with panko breadcrumbs File:980722-Recipe-05-Shrimps-IMG 8660.jpg, alt=Shrimps with Panko, Shrimp coated by panko breadcrumbs

References

{{Authority control Food ingredients Crumbs Food industry