We wish we could say that there is one fail-safe trick, Eileen, but the reality is most homemade breads are at their best within a few hours of baking. When it comes to storage, there's a bit of a trade off between maintaining a crust and keeping the bread from hardening. Keeping your bread exposed to air (whether out on your cutting board or in a paper or vented plastic bag) will help to maintain a crispier crust, but the bread will toughen up more quickly. Storing your fully cooled bread in a sealed plastic bag will keep it from toughening up so quickly, but the bread will tend to soften and lose its crispy crust more quickly. A third option (one we're particularly fond of) is freezing a portion of your loaf. Once fully cooled, wrap your loaf (or individual slices) up tightly (we like plastic wrap and a ziplock bag) and freeze. When you're ready to serve the remaining bread, simply move it to the oven to thaw and crisp back up. Option four (probably our favorite) would be to share the joy of fresh baked bread with a friend or neighbor, thus ensuring it's fully enjoyed before it even has a chance to try to stale. Mollie@KAF

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