Tips for Rescuing Stale Artisan Bread

If your household is anything like ours, there's just no way you can eat an entire loaf of French bread in one night, no matter how delicious. Of course, we all know that once that bread sits on the counter overnight it will never taste as fresh again. If you leave it in it's paper bag, the cut-end gets stale. If you wrap it in a plastic bag, the crust gets soft.

You can use a day old loaf for making breadcrumbs, French toast, or Turkish toast, but what if you just want a plain slice of bread? Thankfully, Not Martha has compiled a list of tips for getting that loaf back to tasty.

In addition, I have my own trick for freshening a loaf of bread that has gone stale all the way through (i.e. it's hard as a rock). Simply wrap the loaf in wet paper towels and pop into the microwave on a low heat setting for 15 - 30 seconds. The moisture from the paper towels should soften the loaf up. You can then toast it in the oven to get a crisp crust.