crumb

Crumb is a small fragment of a baked product, especially bread. In bakery terms, the interior portion of bread—the soft, porous tissue inside the crust—is called the crumb. The word also refers to any tiny piece that has crumbled off a larger item, and the plural crumbs is commonly used in everyday language.

Culinary uses center on producing and employing breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs are made by drying bread and grinding it to different particle sizes. Fresh breadcrumbs come from soft, recently baked bread, while dried breadcrumbs come from stale or specially prepared loaves. They are used as coatings for fried foods, as fillers or binders in meat and vegetable dishes, and as toppings or thickening agents. The texture can range from fine to coarse; finer crumbs blend into mixtures, while coarser crumbs add crunch. Specialized varieties include panko, a light, airy breadcrumb from Japanese cuisine. Flavored crumbs—seasoned with herbs, cheese, garlic, or spices—are common in many recipes.

In a digital context, breadcrumbs (or a breadcrumb trail) are a navigation aid showing a user’s location within a site or document hierarchy. They help users understand structure and enable quick backtracking, typically appearing as a horizontal trail separated by symbols or spaces.

Crumbs also appear as a culinary topping in desserts and baked goods, such as crumb toppings or crumb cakes, where a mixture of butter, sugar, and flour forms a crunchy crust. The term broadly conveys small fragments derived from crumbling or grinding of bread or baked items.