How to Get French Bread Soft Again

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Before yous throw out hard, stale bread products, effort restoring its texture with estrus and moisture. This is well-nigh effective if the staff of life was kept wrapped and still has a little requite, merely information technology tin fifty-fifty ameliorate rock-hard loaves to some extent.

1. 1

   Preheat your oven to a low temperature. Set up your oven to 300ºF (150ºC). The heat will restore most dried bread, although the issue will only last a few hours.^[ane]

2. 

   2

   Add together water only if the crust is hard. Fifty-fifty stale bread nevertheless contains plenty of water. Information technology feels dry because the starch molecules have linked up and trapped the h2o. This means you don't demand to add together water to the crumb of the bread. If the bread has a hard outer crust, picture show h2o onto it, or run it under the cold tap if extremely dried.^[2]

   • If the bread turned dry from overheating, or if information technology was exposed to air, information technology has lost some of its water.^[iii] Wet the whole loaf to restore wet.

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3. 

   3

   Wrap the breadstuff in foil. This prevents steam from escaping, keeping the moisture trapped in the staff of life instead.

4. iv

   Heat until soft. If you lot dampened the bread, look until it no longer feels soggy. Depending on the size of the loaf and whether or not you added h2o, this could take five–fifteen minutes.

5. 

   5

   Unwrap and oestrus for another five minutes if the chaff is too soft. If the bread is soft just the once-hard crust is squishy, take off the foil. Keep heating for another five minutes, or until you've restored the crust to the right texture.^[4]

6. 6

   Eat shortly. Oestrus "melts" the starch molecule construction to release the trapped water, but also speeds up staling once the bread cools downwardly.^[five] The bread volition only terminal a few hours at almost before it turns stale once again.^{[6] [7]}

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1. 

   1

   Bring water to a boil in the base of a steamer. Cascade a shallow layer of water into the pan. Heat over high until the h2o reaches a rolling boil, then remove from heat.

   • If y'all don't have a steamer, you'll demand a colander that sits on top of the pan, and a lid that tin can fit over the colander.
   • This methods adds less estrus than the oven, but more moisture. The extra moisture is almost helpful when the bread is very stale and hard, or if it was left out unwrapped.

2. 

   two

   Place the stale loaf in the steamer basket. Place the basket over the steaming pan and cover with a chapeau.

3. 

   3

   Leave covered until the bread is soft. Requite the steam at least five minutes to soften the bread.

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1. 

   1

   Piece bread to eat right away. Microwaves do soften bread, but the results aren't perfect. Within a few minutes, the staff of life unremarkably turns rubbery and even tougher than before.^[8] This is the fastest method, only it's best to save it for an immediate snack.

   • This happens because the microwave boils abroad some of the water. The escaping steam pushes the starches into a denser construction, and leaves the bread dry. Slow heating in small increments can reduce this result, only it'southward difficult to observe a sweet spot that's withal hot enough to soften the bread.

2. 

   two

   Wrap in a clammy paper towel. Lightly dampen a plain, white paper towel. Wrap it around your bread.^[9] This adds more than moisture, and traps some of the steam in the bread to keep it soft.

3. three

   Estrus in ten second intervals. Depending on how strong your microwave is, the staff of life might already be soft after ten seconds. If not, try again, checking frequently.

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Add New Question

• Question

  Why does difficult breadstuff get soft when I moisture it?

  

  Considering it brings the moisture back. When wet starch (i.due east. dough) heats up (i.e. baked, it becomes partially gelatinized. That's the nice, moist texture of fresh broiled bread.

• Question

  Why does microwaved bread become even harder than earlier?

  

  Maggie Peterson

  Community Answer

  Microwaving breadstuff causes information technology to lose moisture. Trying putting a mug of water in the microwave when you microwave the bread. The steam will aid continue the bread soft.

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• Light breads stay fresh for longer than dense breads. Breads and cakes with fats, sugars, and other additional ingredients as well tend to accept a longer shelf life.^[10]

• To extend shelf-life, freeze the bread and thaw it in the oven when prepare to use. If you'd rather not thaw it, wrap the breadstuff in plastic or foil until airtight and store at room temperature to continue it edible for an extra day or ii.^[eleven]

• You can brand garlic staff of life while refreshing the breadstuff. Follow the oven instructions with these actress steps before heating:

  • Slice the bread in advance, merely leave the slices attached at the base of operations.
  • Spread butter onto each slice.
  • Rub with crushed garlic, salt, and dried or fresh chopped herbs.

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• Overheating the bread will boil away wet and make information technology tough and dry. This is piece of cake to do in the microwave, due to uneven heating.

• The fridge may preclude mold from growing on your bread, simply it won't keep information technology fresh. Starch retrogradation (the process that makes bread go stale) happens much faster at cold temperatures (to a higher place freezing).^[12]

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Commodity Summary Ten

If you lot desire to make stale staff of life soft again, wrap the breadstuff in foil. If the crust of the breadstuff is very hard, sprinkle a picayune water on the outside before you close the foil. Place the bread in a 300°F oven for 5-15 minutes or until the breadstuff feels soft. If you added water, heat the staff of life until it no longer feels soggy. Swallow the staff of life right away, since information technology will only stay soft for a few more hours. To larn how to steam stale bread to go far soft over again, keep reading!

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