Breaking Bread, for One

Yesterday, I ate hummus with a piece of bread so stale it was dangerously close to no longer being bread at all. I had gotten this beautiful multigrain baguette from a bakery down the street. The first day, out of unbreakable, ritualistic habit, I ripped straight from the top of it on the way home; its soft, freshly-baked self was perfect just on its own. The second day, it was toast for over-easy eggs and avocado. The third, it was getting hard. On the fourth, I ate hummus with a piece that closely resembled a slightly more flavorful, seeded crouton of cement. It seemed wrong, but my teeth and I perservered because I had bought the whole loaf, and there was still half left, lonely and unused in its sleeve. In their column Cooking for One, The Kitchn has instructed us how to prepare meals ahead of time, and they’ve given us tips on last-minute meals alone. Today, we learn how to cope with a big loaf of bread, if you’ve got no one to break it with (and you’d rather not break your teeth). For me, that means no more air-staled crostini. For you, assuming you haven’t made my same mistake, it means the end of wasted bread. It’s a win-win. How to Cope with a Big Loaf of Bread When Dining Alone from The Kitchn