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Brown sugar brings a lot to the table in both cooking and mixology. Compared to white sugar, that rich, deep flavor provided by the molasses content can really elevate your baking. You can even make brown sugar at home. It adds more moisture than white sugar, but that moisture is also the downfall of many of us who have opened a container of brown sugar only to find it petrified into a rock. Luckily, the key to keeping your sugar usable is something almost everyone has on hand already: a slice of bread.
Brown sugar is hygroscopic because of the molasses that’s in it, meaning it readily absorbs water. That tendency is what makes brown sugar a good choice for recipes such as chocolate cake. But if brown sugar is left out too long without being properly sealed, all of that moisture evaporates. That’s what causes it to dry into a block. You need to reintroduce moisture, and bread is an excellent medium for doing that. It has just enough moisture to soften the sugar without melting or ruining it.
All you have to do is add a slice of bread to your sugar container, seal it, and let it sit. Still, there are some small potential downsides to using bread to rehydrate your sugar. For one, you may end up with a slight bread taste in that upper layer of sugar. It’s usually subtle, but it’s easy enough to scrape off that part and use the rest of the sugar. The other downside is time. This is no quick fix, so if you want your sugar now, this won’t work.
Is bread the only trick for hydrating brown sugar?
If you don’t have bread handy, don’t want to use it, or you’re in a time crunch, there are several other methods for rehydrating your brown sugar. For instance, you can try using thin apple slices or marshmallows. The apple slices will be faster than the marshmallows and may take just a couple of hours, but they will impart an apple flavor to the sugar. Marshmallows leave no flavor but take longer.
There’s also a terracotta hack that keeps your brown sugar super soft. To start, you can buy terracotta brown sugar savers on Amazon. Soak one in water for 20 minutes, then pop it in your brown sugar container. It will work just like bread with no flavor transfer. The added bonus here is that it can soften your sugar in about an hour if you seal it well. If you need your brown sugar now and can’t wait, there are still some options.
One of the easiest is to put your brown sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and then cover it with a damp paper towel. This is a delicate process, so you’re going to do it very slowly. Microwave for 10 seconds and then use a fork to see if you can separate your brown sugar. If it’s still too hard, cover the bowl with the paper towel again and do another 10 seconds. Be careful not to melt your sugar. This will take time as only the top layer will soften. You’ll need to keep mixing until you have it right, but it’s definitely faster than waiting several hours.
