Restore Moisture

1. Heat the oven to a warm setting or to around 200 degrees. Sprinkle a few drops of water onto a paper bag.

2. Slide the bread into the paper bag. Move the oven rack to the center position in the oven to avoid catching the bag on fire. Heat the oven to about 300 degrees. Place the bag in the oven for about 10 minutes. The moisture from the bag and the heat from the oven will help reduce the amount of dryness inside the bread. Serve the bread immediately after this task for best freshness results.

3. Rub some water on the crust of the bread if the previous method does not work. Wrap the bread in aluminum foil.Turn up the heat on the oven to 350. Place the bread in the oven with the foil tightly closed. Allow the bread to heat for about 15 minutes. This will temporarily add moisture back inside the bread.

Stale Bread Uses

1. Make brochette or garlic toast from dried bread that will not receive additional moisture. Cut the bread into slices while preheating the oven to about 400 degrees. Spread butter over the slices with a pastry brush. Sprinkle the bread with garlic powder, cheese and basil. Heat the bread in the oven until toasty; around 15 minutes. Serve the bread with fresh tomato cubes.

2. Turn the stale bread into croutons. Cut the bread into large cubes. Coat the cubes in melted butter. Place the cubes into an oven heated to 375. Heat the croutons for 10 minutes or until they become dry and toasty.

3. Crumble the bread and use the crumbs in soups, stuffing and other recipes.

4. Make bread pudding, French toast or egg in a frame. These recipes add moisture to the bread and make it impossible to tell that the bread was old when first added to the recipe. Use any bread pudding recipe you want. French toast is a mixture of egg, milk and cinnamon. Coat the bread in the egg mixture and fry in a skillet until toasted. Make egg in a frame by cutting a hole from the middle of the bread. Place an egg inside. Fry the egg and the bread together in a skillet.