One of the best taste comes from the fresh aroma of baked bread or crunchy cookies. However, once they lose their crispness and go stale, you know you're witnessing one of the worst nightmares in your life. Worry no more. This guide will provide you valuable information on how to make your baked goods last longer:
1. Consider using microwave or oven to bring back the crispness of the cereals or crackers that went soft. Put them on a cookie sheet or large pan and bake them at 350 degrees. In about 8 minutes, you'll be able to taste the yummy crunch once again.
2. Add a half-slice of an apple to your cookie, bread or cake containers. This will keep your baked products fresh and make them last longer. The moisture in the apple will add to the cookies, making them nice and soft.
3. If you plan to keep some cakes and bread for a long time, wrap them with a piece of towel and put them in the freezer. It will draw the moisture away from them. Don't use paper-based wrappings — only cloth will work. It doesn't have to be wrapped around. Make it big enough to cover half of the top of the items and they'll come out springy soft.
4. Keep dry, hard bread safely. You can make bread crumbs or croutons from these things. However, this isn't your only option. A simple solution is to spray each roll lightly with water and put them in the oven for 10 minutes. Voila! You have soft and warm rolls with better taste.
5. Put dry or crumbling cookies on a cookie sheet and cut a thin dish towel. Wring the towel out really well, and lay it over the cookies. Put them in a 350-degree oven for 5 minutes.
6. Use a slice of fresh bread to soften marshmallows. Give it a couple of days and they'll be as good as new.
7. Never soak rolls as you mist them. Just dampen them with a fine mist.
8. Don't store bread in the refrigerator, except in extremely hot weather — it will speed up the staling process. The average temperature of the domestic refrigerator is about 5°C/41°F, the temperature at which bread stales most quickly.
9. You can store bread in the freezer by putting half of the loaf in a plastic bag. It can be defrosted whole or slice by slice. Defrosting a loaf at room temperature can take a few hours and is the best way.
10. Once the wrapper is opened, it should be kept loosely folded under the loaf allowing circulation of air inside the wrapper. You should also keep the end crust to keep the top slice fresh.
11. Unwrapped crusty bread should be kept in a well-cleaned, ventilated bread bin. Free circulation of air is essential to keep the crust crisp, so the container shouldn't be airtight.
12. Old breadcrumbs will gather mould, so the bread jar should be thoroughly washed once a week. A little vinegar in the rinsing water will help prevent mould.
13. Crusty bread, rolls, and buns which have become a little stale or lost their crispness can be freshened when wrapped in foil and placed in a pre-heated oven at 250°C/450°F/gas mark 8 for 5-10 minutes. You should leave the bread in the foil so it will cool down and can be eaten soon afterwards, as reheating causes it to dry out and go stale fairly quickly.
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