That rock-hard loaf isn’t always your enemy. When bread simply dries out and turns chewy or rigid, it’s usually just going through retrogradation—starch molecules tightening, moisture escaping. No mold, no strange smell, no fuzzy patches? Then it’s typically safe and surprisingly valuable. Stale bread excels in the pan and oven: it soaks up custard for French toast, holds its shape in stuffing, crisps beautifully into croutons, and becomes the backbone of rustic dishes like panzanella or bread pudding. It can even be blitzed into breadcrumbs or used to thicken soups and mop up sauces.

The real threat appears when mold shows up. Even a single green or black spot means the entire loaf is compromised. Bread is porous; mold threads travel invisibly beyond what you can see, sometimes producing mycotoxins that can trigger allergies or illness. Don’t trim, don’t toast to “kill it”—just discard it. To slow staling without inviting mold, store bread at room temperature in a paper bag for short-term use, or freeze slices for later. Avoid the refrigerator, which accelerates staling. In the end, stale bread can be a resource, but moldy bread is never worth the risk.