Grains & starch · Gu

Breadcrumbs

6.5% water · 395 kcal

Per 100 g

395 kcal Energy

13.35 g Protein

71.98 g Carbs

5.3 g Fat

4.5 g Fibre

Contains gluten GLUTEN GI 0

Let’s cook with it → Invent something with it

What it is for

They build structure. Starch granules swell in hot water, burst, and weave a net that traps the liquid — most of what you call body comes from here. Wheat does one extra job on top: gluten.

Where it catches you out

Starch does nothing before 62 °C, and acid cuts the chains during a long boil. Think about your thickener after the heat and before the acid.

The knack

In a coating the job of breadcrumb is its pores: a dry, porous surface flashes its water to steam at 180 °C and keeps the oil out. Finely milled crumb loses those pores and the coating drinks fat — coarsely broken crumb fries crisper.

Storage and health

How to keep it, and who it suits.

Keeping it

Three months in a sealed jar somewhere cool and dry. Damp breadcrumb clumps, and a clump leaves a hole in the coating; a pinch of rice in the jar takes up the moisture.

Contains gluten

It is made from dried bread, and drying does not remove bread’s gluten.

Allergen: GLUTEN

Glycaemic index

0 — glucose is taken as 100. Below 55 is low, 56–69 medium, 70 and above high. The number says nothing about portion: at the same index, twice the amount is twice the load.

Quick ideas

What this could be tonight

White bean patties

There is no protein network here to bind the patty. What takes its place is gelatinised starch, which firms as it cools: the fridge is what holds these together.

130 min 0 kcal