Ever since Mark Bittman's article a couple weeks ago on using your microwave, we've had that much-maligned appliance on our collective brain. Is it perhaps more energy-efficient? Should we consider it more often? We've talked about cleaning sponges and steaming broccoli in the microwave.
One thing, though, that we almost never put in the microwave is bread. It ends up chewy and spongy. But we feel guilty turning on an entire hot oven just to warm a small basket of bread for dinner, so we have been experimenting with warming bread and rolls in the microwave. Here are a few tips that have been working well.
1. Keep it moist - We lightly moisten a paper towel or regular kitchen towel and lay it directly on the surface of the bread. 
2. Keep it covered - Then we cover the whole thing with another paper towel or kitchen towel. 
reheating pancakes is easy in a microwave (and similar to warming bread): place each individual pancake in between a layer of paper towels and zap for about 30 seconds....perfect and easy
view Aaron's profile
gave away my microwave 8 years ago and don't miss it one bit.
view Sassy in SF's profile
During the resting time most recipes call for, simply turn off your oven and place the bread inside. The residual heat lasts for minutes, your bread is warm and you have used no extra energy.
view brcline's profile
I use a pot with a lid. Wet and wring out a paper towel and put it in the bottom, wire rack over that. Let it heat up a bit, then put the bread in. Five minutes later, just right. My mother did it this way in the 50s. I thought everyone did it this way :)
But my family much prefers that I split whatever the bread is (left-overs) ---muffins, biscuits, dinner rolls, esp corn bread---butter and toast it in my simple Muncy toaster oven (no dials: to turn it on you plug it in :)
view Fontessa's profile