Staling, or "going stale", is a chemical and physical process in

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

and similar foods that reduces their palatability - stale bread is dry and hard.

Mechanism and effects

Staling is not simply a drying-out process due to

evaporation Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. High concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humidi ...

. One important mechanism is the migration of moisture from the

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

granules into the interstitial spaces, degelatinizing the starch. The starch amylose and amylopectin molecules realign themselves causing recrystallisation. This results in stale bread's leathery, hard texture. Bread will stale even in a moist environment, and stales most rapidly at temperatures just above freezing. While bread that has been frozen when fresh may be thawed acceptably, bread stored in a refrigerator will have increased staling rates.

Countermeasures

Anti-staling agents used in modern bread include wheat gluten,

enzymes Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecule ...

, and glycerolipids, mainly monoglycerides and diglycerides.

Culinary uses

Many classic dishes rely upon otherwise unpalatable stale bread. Examples include bread sauce, bread dumplings, and

flummadiddle Flummadiddle is a baked main course pudding consisting of stale bread, pork fat, molasses, and spices including cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. It was a part of early American cuisine, especially of New England fishermen. See also * List of br ...

, an early American savoury pudding. There are also many types of bread soups such as

wodzionka Wodzianka, wodzionka (), kapłonek or brotzupa is a Silesian and Central Poland bread soup made from stale bread, fat and water or milk. Traditionally, ''wodzionka'' is prepared by soaking two- to three-day-old stale bread in water or broth and ...

(in

Silesian cuisine Silesian cuisine belongs to the region of Silesia in Central Europe. It is a subtype of Polish and German cuisine with many similarities to and signs of the influence of neighbouring cuisines. The cuisine is particularly renowned for its poppy ...

) and

ribollita Ribollita is a Tuscan bread soup, panade, porridge, or potage made with bread and vegetables, often from leftovers. There are many variations but the main ingredients always include leftover bread, cannellini beans, lacinato kale, cabbage, a ...

(in Italian cuisine). An often-sweet dish is bread pudding. Cubes of stale bread can be dipped in cheese

fondue Fondue (, , ) is a Swiss melted cheese dish served in a communal pot ( ''caquelon'' or fondue pot) over a portable stove () heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. It was promote ...

, or seasoned and baked in the oven to become croutons, suitable for scattering in salads or on top of soups. Slices of stale bread soaked in an egg and milk mixture and then fried turn into French toast (known in French as ''pain perdu'' - lost bread). In Spanish and Portuguese cuisines '' migas'' is a breakfast dish using stale bread, and in Tunisian cuisine '' leblebi'' is a soup of chickpeas and stale bread. Stale bread or breadcrumbs made from it can be used to "stretch" meat in dishes such as haslet (a type of meatloaf in

British cuisine British cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom. Historically, British cuisine meant "unfussy dishes made with quality local ingredients, matched with simple sauces to accentuate flavou ...

, or meatloaf itself) and garbure (a stew in French cuisine). It can be a subsidiary ingredient in dishes such as

fattoush Fattoush ( ar, فتوش; also fattush, fatush, fattoosh, and fattouche) is a Levantine salad made from toasted or fried pieces of khubz (Arabic flat bread) combined with mixed greens and other vegetables, such as radishes and tomatoes.Wright, 2 ...

(a type of salad in Levantine cuisine). Stale bread can be used as a base for dips such as skordalia (in Greek cuisine), or substituted with another ingredient. In medieval cuisine, slices of stale bread, called trenchers, were used instead of plates.

Destaling

Stale bread can be partially made fresh again by heating to 60 °C in a

conventional oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool which is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been use ...

or microwave oven.

Mechanism and effects

Countermeasures

Culinary uses

Destaling

References

Further reading