Sho Spaeth is the lead writer and editor at ChefSteps.com. He is also the author of Homemade Ramen, a James Beard Award–nominated cookbook.

Sho Spaeth

Wherever there’s bread, there’s stale bread. As soon as a freshly baked loaf of bread starts to cool down, staling begins.Bakers have puzzled over this process for millennia, and baked goods manufacturers have devised all kinds of methods to stave off the inevitable, even as home cooks have come up with ways for getting stale bread to revert to the ever-so-brief “freshly baked” state.The science behind staling is incredibly complicated, and it isn’t entirely understood by scientists. But a basic understanding of bread chemistry will give you the tools to stall staling and can help you understand why bread recipes call for specific procedures and steps.