There’s nothing better than treating yourself to a freshly baked artisan loaf of bread from your local bakery. Tasting much better than your average supermarket loaf, it’s perfect for toasting or using in sandwiches – but there’s one key downside.
Because they often aren’t packaged as much as other shop-bought loaves, fresh bread can go stale pretty quickly. So if you’ve ever went to cut into your loaf only to find it’s gone hard and stale, one piece of advice from a food waste guru could come in handy. You can actually revive stale bread in just 10 minutes, making it taste ultra-fresh again.
TikToker Spicy Moustache, who often shares helpful tips on how to slash the amount of food you’re wasting, says that stale bread will taste ‘crunchy and fresh’ again if you do one simple thing before eating it.
In a recent video, he shared not one but 10 hacks that are great for getting the most out of your food so that you don’t waste a single bit – or waste any money either. In the caption, he explained: “Just a few simple kitchen hacks to save time, reduce waste, and become a better home cook.”
Grabbing a fresh loaf of bread that had seen better days, the pro revealed that all you need to make it taste delicious again is a little bit of water.
How to make stale bread taste fresh again
First, you’ll want to take your bread and run it under cold water. This might seem like it’ll just make the bread soggy and even more inedible, but in fact, it works great for reducing the staleness.
Then, pop it on an oven tray and bake at 180C for around 10 minutes. The pro explained that this will make your loaf taste “crunchy and fresh, just like you bought it today.”
Not only does this work on stale bread, but it also works on frozen bread too, and is a quicker alternative than waiting for it to defrost itself.
This nifty hack is loved by food experts globally, including those at Bon Appetit. Explaining how this trick works, they said: “The water turns to steam, which rehydrates the bread’s crumb, or interior, while the heat of the oven firms up the crust.”
It’s most effective when reheating large loaves or baguettes, as the water will make the exterior crisp up so nicely whilst keeping the inside soft and fluffy.
So before you throw out your stale bread or turn it into croutons or breadcrumbs, try this trick out and see for yourself how effective it is.