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Even with the vast number of delicious meals you can make with bread—fluffy French toast, avocado toast, paninis—chances are that you aren’t going through a whole loaf in the span of a couple of days unless you’re cooking for a whole household of people. And if you’ve ever tried making a sandwich with stale bread, you know it just won’t cut it. (Literally…it’s super hard to cut.) Or even worse, the nightmare of biting into moldy bread—bleh!
Experts in This Article
creator of The Clever Carrot and author of Sourdough Made Simple
That’s the problem with bread—it has a relatively short shelf life. Freshly baked bread lasts only three to four days and store-bought bread lasts about a week. But according to expert bread maker Emilie Raffa, author of Artisan Sourdough Made Simple ($17), knowing how to store bread makes a huge difference in terms of how long it maintains that just-baked quality—the way you store it either extends its life or drastically cuts it down. And that’s precisely why we chatted with Raffa for her top tips on how to keep homemade bread fresh. Ahead, learn the best way to store bread, straight from a baker who knows what it takes.
The Fundamentals of Keeping Bread Fresh
Raffa has baked a lot of bread (like, a lot) and she’s learned first-hand that keeping homemade or even air fryer bread fresh comes down to avoiding three things: heat, moisture, and air. “This will prevent fresh bread from becoming stale and moldy,” she explains. And she knows from firsthand experience! When she first started making bread, she revealed that she used to keep it in a drawer next to the fridge. “Everything in the drawer quickly molded due to excess heat the fridge gave off,” she explains. This also means that if you have a bread box that’s kept anywhere near your stove, you’re going to have the same problem.
With that in mind, Raffa let us in on a little secret (a few, actually). Check them out, below.
How To Store Bread: A Baker’s Best Practices
The best way to store bread, according to Raffa, is in a paper, plastic, or reusable bread bag. “Seal it loosely at room temperature,” she instructs. One bread storage mistake she says she sees people making a lot is keeping their bread in a sealed Ziploc bag. “This locks the moisture in, allowing mold to grow quickly,” she says. When stored correctly, your bread will stay as springy and moist as the day it came out of the oven for up to four days.
Raffa also says different types of bread have slightly different shelf lives. If you want to make or buy bread that can last as long as possible, she recommends going for sourdough—already a favorite in the wellness world for its gut health-supporting properties. “The naturally occurring enzymes in sourdough bread act as a natural preservative, keeping homemade bread fresher for longer,” she explains.
Tips for Making Stored Bread Fresh Again
When you are reheating bread, Raffa offers up her insider intel on bringing it back to its just-baked self: “Wrap the loaf in foil and bake it at 300°F until warmed through,” she says, adding that the timing depends on the thickness and style of bread. “Then, remove the foil and bake for a little longer to crisp the crust to your liking.”
If you don’t plan on eating your bread in the next week, Raffa says you can always freeze it, saving it for weeks and even months later. “You can freeze the loaf whole or cut it into slices,” she says. “When you are ready to eat it, defrost the bread at room temperature and reheat or toast to serve.”
If you do take the freezer route, just make sure that you store your bread in airtight containers to prevent it from getting freezer burn. According to Amazon shoppers, you can go wrong with Buddeez Bread Loaf Plastic Keeper Box Airtight Holder ($29), which comes in sets of two. For reference, the hard plastic containers are designed to fit classic store-bought loaves, so they’re not the best bet for all forms of freshly baked bread. That said, if you’re looking for ways to store full, round loaves, a snug wrapping with saran wrap will do the trick—or, if you’re hoping to be more sustainable, reusable Bee’s Wrap is designed to withstand freezer temps, as well. Alternatively, if you’re hoping to extend the life of your pre-sliced artisan loaf, storing slices in Ziploc Gallon Food Storage Freezer Bags ($7) or eco-friendly Stasher Stand-Up Mega Bags ($30) will help you do just that.
While the freezer can be fresh bread’s best friend, its biggest enemy is (believe it or not) the fridge. Keeping a loaf in your refrigerator can certainly help curtail mold growth, but it also dries out your bread, meaning you can bid farewell to that deliciously soft texture.
Of course, if your bread does go stale, that certainly doesn’t mean you can’t eat it. Stale bread can make delicious croutons or breadcrumbs.
Whether your loaf is just-baked or starting to harden, really what using it all comes down to is mindfulness. Taking the time to store your bread properly will make it last as long as possible—and that’s good advice no matter how you slice it.
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