Reheating Cold Bread in the Microwave Oven

When you buy a loaf of bread and are not sure whether you are going to finish eating it within it’s recommended shelf life period, the best way store it would be in the refrigerator or freezer to retard mould and spoilage.

With a microwave oven, it is easy to reheat cold bread at an instant without having to wait for the bread to thaw out or to bring out the steamer (actually steaming often results in soggy bread that is rather unappetizing). Now the trick to reheating bread in the microwave oven is to do it in such a way that it doesn’t dry out or become tough from overheating.


Method 1

Place about 3 tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Heat the water on Micro Power HIGH for 1 minute.

On a microwave-safe plate, place the bread on a double layer of kitchen paper towel (at least a double layer is needed, otherwise the bottom part of the bread may become soggy from condensation). Place another layer of paper towel, dampened very slightly, to loosely cover the top of the bread. If you are thawing or heating just one piece of bread, you need to use only piece of paper towel, folded into two.

Place the covered bread in the microwave oven together with the bowl of hot water and heat on Micro Power LOW for 10 seconds. Flip the bread over (just the bread, not the whole bread-paper towel parcel), making sure to recover the bread with the dampened paper towel. Heat again on Micro Power LOW for 10 seconds. If bread was frozen to begin with, repeat the flipping over of the bread and microwaving once more or until bread is just warm. DO NOT OVER-HEAT OR THE BREAD WILL BECOME TOUGH.


Method 2

If you are using a microwave oven that has the Micro Steam function, place the bread on a double-layer of paper towels on a plate. Heat on Micro Steam 300W for 20 seconds. Flip the bread over and heat again for 20 seconds or more until bread is warmed to your liking.


NOTE

• Do not stack the bread, lay them out on a single layer.
• Do not attempt to heat more than four pieces of bread at a time. The fewer the quantity, the better the result. The more the quantity, the more the heating intervals required.