Could this be done intentionally, then package the bread in plastic bags or whatever? I know you can somewhat reconstitute it by steaming it for a bit.<<<
This I have not tried.
I do not think that I would want to dry the loaf as a single piece.
You might dry bread slices, but how would you get it soft again? Steaming maybe.
I have worked in cafes that saved all the old bread and donuts and used them for bread puddings and dressing, in fact I have done the same.
LOL, my sister won’t eat my bread puddings, she found out it was old bread in them...and I thought that was the main reason to make them.
If I wanted a supply of bread, already baked, there is hard tack, some place in this thread is the recipe and also crackers, in the last week or so I posted several cracker recipes.
I think I also posted, some time back odd breads from India that were pretty well dried out, a flat bread, I remember reading the recipe.
Keep in mind that you can make corn bread batter, a little thinner than you do for baking and fry it, fantastic on a camp fire, fried in bacon drippings.
Yes, it is almost a pancake.
Biscuits can be fried also.
Do you have a dehydrator ? You could attempt drying a few slices of bread and see if you get a cracker that is edible.
If you using store bought bread, then beware, as I have noticed that the breads today have so much preservative in them that they almost do not spoil.
To prove my point, I left out samples and after a year the cinnamon roll in the individual wrapper, was soft enough to eat.
Well, for instance, I have had tortillas that got pretty stiff.
And simply steaming them for ten or fifteen minutes brings them totally back and they were fine.
I was thinking mainly about like a whole, uncut french bread. Just let it get hard as a rock.
I mean even the times I have done it unintentionally, with say a third of a french bread and it dries, after it dries, it never gets mold or anything else on it. Simply not enough moisture left in it to mold up.
I’m gonna try it! Will report back on the results, but a good test will take at least a month, let it dry for a week, save it for three or so, then try to re-steam it back to life.