One of the simple joys of life is spreading a pat of butter on a hot slice of homemade bread, fresh-baked right out of the oven, but a caveat is that a big loaf of bread, especially one without preservatives, can go stale quickly. Luckily, if your bread has gone stale, you can revive it instead of throwing it in the trash.

Bread goes stale because its moisture content evaporates over time, making its starch molecules tighten and toughen up into a chewy and dry texture. Therefore, it makes sense that water can help bring your stale bread back to life, and the only appliance you need to pull this off is your microwave.

All you need to do is place a piece of bread inside a damp paper towel, then microwave it on a plate for 10 seconds. The water will revive the starch molecules in the bread's flour, and you'll have soft bread again; however, you'll still want to eat it within a few hours before it goes stale again.