This Easy Hack Makes Stale Bread Fresh Again
I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s near impossible to get that fresh-out-of-the-oven texture after bread has gone stale. And, why does it seem whenever you buy (or maybe even bake yourself) a special loaf that is not your usual bag of sliced bread, it’s basically hard the next day? Re-heating it in the oven won’t always give you that soft middle, and throwing it in the microwave only makes a mushy mess. Here’s a little good news though: There’s a new (and slightly wacky) bread hack that can return any crusty bread like a baguette or sourdough loaf to its prior glory — and it only takes a few minutes.
The tip was first shared by @attn and couldn’t be simpler. Just take that stale bread and run it under your faucet until the bread is wet. Make sure you don’t soak the bread or submerge it in water; it’s just a quick rinse. From there, bake your loaf directly on your oven rack at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for five to 10 minutes. Check on your bread every minute or two to prevent burning since every oven is a little different. Then presto, you’ve got bread that’s crusty on the outside and soft on the inside just like when you first got it!
I bought a French baguette for a recipe a few days ago, and it was rock solid by the time I wanted to use it again a day and a half later. I decided to try this hack out for myself despite a few strange stares from my roommate, who was very confused why I was putting dry bread under the faucet. My oven is pretty strong, so I only needed to bake the baguette for around four or five minutes, and sure enough, it worked and was incredibly delicious. And is there anything more satisfying than slicing a crusty loaf that’s right out of the oven?
Plus, once you’ve made your stale bread feel brand new, you can try out this easy trick to keep it fresher for longer and toss it into a bread drawer!
