We work hard for our daily bread! Protect your investment with a clean, healthful approach to storing it.
The best way to keep crusty bread fresh is in a plastic bag, left slightly open. It will keep at room temperature for a day or two. It is safer to keep sandwich bread sealed in its bag, in the refrigerator. One can even freeze it.
Choosing a Bread Storage Option
Although this article gives you the basics on keeping your homemade bread fresh, the same principles apply to store-bought bread, as well; whether it’s crusty bread or a sandwich loaf.
Your basic storage choices are putting it into a bag, or into a breadbox. Wrapping a loaf in plastic wrap works well with moist breads, such as banana bread; but it tends to slip off yeast breads, due to their dry crust.
Whether you’re trying to store home-baked bread, or a baguette from the store, you can’t go wrong with good, professional grade storage bags. I like these the best (view them here), because they are large enough for whatever kind of loaf you wish to store. I mean, for a super long baguette, you’d cut it in half; but at least it would fit. Even big Sicilian loaves fit easily into these bags.
I grew up with a breadbox on the counter. It, however, fell into disuse, when my mother started buying bread with no preservatives in it – Her new bread needed refridgeration, or it would go moldy after a couple of days (more on preventing mold, below).
They still make breadboxes, though. They are a good place to store bread that you plan to use up quickly.
I would also not recommend using “earth-friendly” reusable bags. Bread constantly gives off moisture, which permeates into every corner of the bag. Even if you wash it, there is a good chance that those tiny corners will never dry, causing mold and bacteria to breed in the “clean” bag. This is not a sanitary environment for your bread.
Storing your Wrapped Bread
Where to stash that loaf, once you have it under wraps, is up for debate. We all wish that last slice of bread was just as perfect as the first; crunchy/crusty on the outside, moist/chewy on the inside…would that it were…
The best way to achieve this to leave it out at room temperature, with the top slightly open. If you leave the top open too much, the bread gets hard and stale, of course. If you close up the bag, though, moisture from the inside of the bread will have nowhere to go, and will humidify the bag, making the bread rubbery or even soggy.
That applies to crusty breads, such as French and Italian, which will get eaten up by the next day. Your daily sandwich loaf is a different story, though. That one belongs in the fridge, or it gets moldy.
Freezing Bread for Longer Freshness
The King Arthur Flour company has a great idea for really getting the most out of your bread – Remove as many slices as you use in a day, and wrap that amount in plastic. Repeat with the rest of loaf. Then, place your packets back into the bag, and store in the freezer, thawing one packet at a time, as you need them. These packets will thaw in an hour on the counter, or several hours in the fridge.
Whether you divide it this way or not, bread stores well in the freezer for about 6 weeks. After that, it won’t go bad, but it does lose quality.
More Ways to Maximize Bread Freshness
- Cool bread fully before you put it away, or it gets soggy.
- Cutting into bread that is not fully cooled will cause the loaf to dry out.
- Freshly baked bread is very difficult to slice. For perfect sandwich slices, freeze your bread, thaw, then slice.
- If you bake your own bread, you can keep it fresh longer by adding some Vitamin C powder (view it here). Include one pinch per loaf into your dough.
Moldy Bread: the scene of the crime
The crime: ruining you bread. The evidence: fingerprints… yes, fingerprints! Bacteria from your hands can transfer easily to the loaf, and cause mold; so always wash your hands before handling the bread.
Whenever possible, avoid handling the entire loaf with your hands. When you remove slices from the bag, push from the outside of the bag to get as many slices as you need. Place a clean towel over a loaf that you are slicing.
Before you decide I’m imagining things, read the results of an experiment conducted at Pennsylvania State University, in which scientists compared mold growth on slices of bread that were handled with dirty hands versus those handled with clean hands:
Certain pieces of bread develop mold faster or in larger amounts than others. This is because the dirty hand and the dirty surface were exposed to more germs than the clean hand and control. This is why they developed the most mold the fastest! The clean hand should develop less mold compared to the dirty hand and surface. This is because the clean hand had less germs on it than the dirty hand. This shows just how many germs are around and how important it is to remember to wash your hands often!”
Researchers at Penn State
What Should I do With Moldy Bread?
Throw it out! Yes, even if it’s just a spot or two. Marsha McCulloch, MS, RD explains why:
The USDA advises discarding the entire loaf of bread if it has developed mold. Though you may only see a few spots of the fungus, its microscopic roots can spread quickly through porous bread. Therefore, don’t try to scrape off mold or salvage the rest of your loaf. Some mold can produce harmful and invisible poisons called mycotoxins. These may cause digestive upset or other illness. They can also sicken animals, so don’t feed contaminated bread to your pets.”
Marsha McCulloch, MS, RD
Resources for Further Exploration
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