Panko are made with a special non-fermented bread that has no crust.
You can however make good breadcrumbs with old hard bread and if you want it to be like Panko, pulse it and leave the crumbs coarse.
I am a trade chef and use Panko a lot.
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.
[1] It has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found in
Western cuisine and maintains its texture baked or deep fried, resulting in a lighter coating.
[2] Outside Japan, its use is becoming more popular in both Asian and non-Asian dishes. It is often used on seafood and is often available in
Asian markets, speciality stores, and, increasingly, in many large
supermarkets.
Panko is produced worldwide, particularly in Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, China, and Vietnam.
