Staling, or "going stale", is a chemical and physical process in bread 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. One important mechanism is the migration of moisture from the starch granules into the interstitial spaces, degelatinizing the starch. The starch

amylose Amylose is a polysaccharide made of α-D-glucose units, bonded to each other through α(1→4) glycosidic bonds. It is one of the two components of starch, making up approximately 20–30%. Because of its tightly packed helical structure, amylose ...

and

amylopectin Amylopectin is a water-insoluble polysaccharide and highly branched polymer of α-glucose units found in plants. It is one of the two components of starch, the other being amylose. Plants store starch within specialized organelles called amyloplas ...

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, and

glycerolipids Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include ...

, mainly

monoglyceride Monoglycerides (also: acylglycerols or monoacylglycerols) are a class of glycerides which are composed of a molecule of glycerol linked to a fatty acid via an ester bond. As glycerol contains both primary and secondary alcohol groups two differen ...

s and

diglyceride A diglyceride, or diacylglycerol (DAG), is a glyceride consisting of two fatty acid chains covalently bonded to a glycerol molecule through ester linkages. Two possible forms exist, 1,2-diacylglycerols and 1,3-diacylglycerols. DAGs can act as su ...

Culinary uses

Many classic dishes rely upon otherwise unpalatable stale bread. Examples include

bread sauce A bread sauce is a British and Irish warm or cold sauce made with milk, which is thickened with bread crumbs, typically eaten with roast chicken or turkey. Recipe The basic recipe calls for milk and onion with breadcrumbs and butter added as thi ...

, 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 * Lis ...

, an early American savoury pudding. There are also many types of

bread soup Bread soup is a simple soup that mainly consists of stale bread. Variations exist in many countries, and it is often eaten during Lent. Both brown and white bread may be used. The basis for bread soup is traditionally either meat soup or veget ...

s 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 Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with wave ...

). An often-sweet dish is

bread pudding Bread pudding is a bread-based dessert popular in many countries' cuisines. It is made with stale bread and milk or cream, generally containing eggs, a form of fat such as oil, butter or suet and, depending on whether the pudding is sweet or ...

. 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 promoted ...

, or seasoned and baked in the oven to become

crouton A crouton is a piece of rebaked bread, often cubed and seasoned. Croutons are used to add texture and flavor to salads—notably the Caesar salad— or eaten as a snack food. Etymology The word crouton is derived from the French ''croûton' ...

s, 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 Migas () ("crumbs" in English) is a dish traditionally made from stale bread and other ingredients in Spanish and Portuguese cuisines. Originally introduced by shepherds, migas are very popular across the Iberian Peninsula, and are the typical br ...

'' is a breakfast dish using stale bread, and in Tunisian cuisine ''

leblebi Leblebi ( tr, leblebi; acm, لبلبي, leblebi; ar, قضامة, Qdameh, Qudamah; fa, نخودچی, Nokhodchi; scn, Càlia) is a snack made from roasted chickpeas, common and popular in Iran, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Greece ...

'' is a soup of chickpeas and stale bread. Stale bread or

breadcrumbs Bread crumbs or breadcrumbs (regional variants including breading and crispies) consist of crumbled bread of various dryness, sometimes with seasonings added, used for breading or crumbing foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickeni ...

made from it can be used to "stretch" meat in dishes such as

haslet In British English, haslet or acelet is a pork meatloaf with herbs, originally from Lincolnshire. The word is derived from the Old French meaning ''entrails''. In Lincolnshire, haslet (pronounced '/ˈhæslɪt/' locally) is typically made from s ...

(a type of

meatloaf Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat that has been combined with other ingredients and formed into the shape of a loaf, then baked or smoked. The final shape is either hand-formed on a baking tray, or pan-formed by cooking it in a loaf pan. ...

in British cuisine, or meatloaf itself) and

garbure ''Garbure'' is a thick French stew traditionally based on cabbage and confit d'oie,ROBUCHON, J., & MONTAGNÉ, P. (2001). Larousse gastronomique. New York, Clarkson Potter. though the modern version is usually made with ham, cheese and stale bread ...

(a stew in

French cuisine French cuisine () is the cooking traditions and practices from France. It has been influenced over the centuries by the many surrounding cultures of Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, in addition to the food traditions of the re ...

). 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, ...

(a type of salad in

Levantine cuisine Levantine cuisine is the traditional cuisine of the Levant. Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of Levantine cuisine is ''meze'' including '' tabbouleh'', ''hummus'' and ''baba ghanoush''. Levantine dishes * Arabic coffee (قهوة عر ...

). Stale bread can be used as a base for dips such as

skordalia Skordalia or skordhalia or skorthalia (Greek: σκορδαλιά , also called αλιάδα, aliada/aliatha), is a thick purée in Greek cuisine made of garlic in a base of potatoes, walnuts, almonds or liquid-soaked stale bread mixed with o ...

(in

Greek cuisine Greek cuisine ( Greek: Ελληνική Κουζίνα) is the cuisine of Greece and the Greek diaspora. In common with many other cuisines of the Mediterranean, it is founded on the triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine. It uses vegetables, ol ...

), or substituted with another ingredient. In

medieval cuisine Medieval cuisine includes foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, which lasted from the fifth to the fifteenth century. During this period, diets and cooking changed less than they did in t ...

, 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 ...

microwave oven A microwave oven (commonly referred to as a microwave) is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce ...

Mechanism and effects

Countermeasures

Culinary uses

Destaling

References

Further reading