In all Jewish homes, it is common to see the challah covered with a cloth before making kiddush. This practice has its roots in Shulchan Aruch (שו"ע או"ח סי' רע"א ס"ט) which states that the challah should be both covered above and have a cloth beneath as well.
There are a number of reasons given for this. The Tur (טור סי' רע"א הובא בנו"כ לשו"ע שם) brings from the Yerushalmi that this is a rememberance of the man that the Jews recieved in the desert that came "in a box": with dew above and below it. Another reason given (at least for the covering) is not to "shame" the bread: usually bread comes before wine; on Shabbos we give preference to the wine over the challah, thus we cover it so it shouldn't view its shame.
Another way of explaining this "shame" factor is more technical: being that bread has "first rights" over wine, should the bread be "available," we would have to make kiddush over it. Being that kiddush is supposed to be made over wine, the Chachamim came up with the idea of covering the challah, thus making it "unavailable."
מג"א סי' רע"א סק"כ
ועי' שו"ע סי' רצ"ט ס"ט
ועי' בתוס' פסחים ק, ב ד"ה "שאין מביאין" עוד בטעם הדברים
עיין שו"ע אדה"ז סי' רעא ס"י "וצריך לפרוס מפה על השלחן לכסות הפת קודם שיקדש ואח"כ יסירנה כדי שתתראה הפת כאלו הובאה עתה על השלחן לכבוד שבת שהזכיר בקידוש והוא ממג"א סק"ז והוא לכאורה עוד טעם
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