Weve lost many life skills over the years. How to make butter, drive a team of horses, use a coffee maker that doesnt come with prepackaged pods … but one of the most distressing things is NO one knows how to keep bread fresh anymore. Heres the how and why.
In the 1930s there was a very large blip in the bread eating world that were just starting to recover from. Way back then, bread came like the bread you see in the photo; whole loaves of crusty, prone to get stale fast, bread.
The “bread blip” when The Continental Baking Company started selling the greatest thing since the wheel – sliced bread.
Wonder Bread made its nationwide debut throwing women into a panic over this newfangled sorcery. They all asked themselves …
Turns out, its completely possible as long as you remove all the nutrients and minerals and basically anything good from the flour by processing it until its a mere shadow of its former self.
Highly processing flour creates a super-soft almost devoid of nutrient, marshmallow-like bread that lasts forever without drying out. Yay?
A decade or so after its introduction, the government forced the makers of Wonder Bread and other extremely processed foods to add nutrients and minerals back into the bread to give it at least some nutritional value.
This is why youll see bread that says “enriched” on it. Enriched??!! Thats great! It gives you the impression that theres even MORE nutrients in it the bread!!!
There arent. Theyve just added in some synthetic nutrients to make up for the real ones they took out.
While it’s safe to keep many baked goods at room temperature, it depends on the item and should be taken on a case-by-case basis. For instance, breads and rolls can last up to four days at room temperature, but any bread with meat or hard-boiled eggs should be refrigerated within two hours, according to the USDA.
Bread Storage Test Methods.
- Under glass on a wood cutting board with no ventilation
- Under glass on a marble cutting board with no ventilation
- Unwrapped in a drawer.
- In a linen bread bag.
- In a clay pot.
- Under medium sized glass dome with ventilation – bread on its side.
- Under medium sized glass dome with ventilation – bread on its cut end.
- Under large glass dome.
Heres how the methods worked.
Each loaf was cut in half and stored in one of the 8 designated places. I measured their moisture with a moisture meter, but it turned out that wasnt really necessary. Mould meant the bread was too moist with not enough ventilation, hard as a rock meant too dry with too much ventilation.
1 & 2 Under Glass.
The bread under glass with no ventilation got mouldy within 3 days. It was stored with the cut end down to prevent moisture loss with probably also accounted for the quick mould production.
This method didnt work. The crust became soft almost immediately after going under the glass domes and mould formed within days.
Results – FAIL
3. Unwrapped in a drawer
This was my attempt to replicate a bread box. I lined the drawer with a linen towel just in case there was any ick in the drawer. One loaf was placed with the cut end open to air, the other loaf had the cut end pushed against the side of the drawer.
This method worked surprisingly well, with the loaf that had the cut end pushed against the side of the drawer staying quite close to its original texture. Soft on the inside and crusty (not soft) crust.
Results – PRETTY DARN GOOD. But the drawer swelled up and the bread that didnt have the cut end covered up dried out.
4. In a linen bread bag.
This method was the best for keeping a crusty loaf and preventing mould but only for a couple of days. Within one day the bread started to harden just beneath the crust and the hardness just got deeper and deeper into the loaf with each day it was stored until by day 4 the bread was hard enough to break if you dropped it.
Results – Good for very short term storage.
5. Clay pot.
I decided to try storing bread in a clay pot since seeing this clay bread box a few years ago. It made sense. The clay would absorb extra moisture and help prevent the bread from going hard and stale. The hole in the top of the pot I figured would act as ventilation and allow moisture to escape.
It didnt work. The bread got mould on its cut end within a few days.
Results – FAIL. My DIY clay bread holder didnt allow enough moisture to escape. The one for sale on Amazon might work better. Im not sure.
6. Under medium sized glass dome with ventilation – bread on its size. After seeing how quickly the bread went mouldy under glass domes with no ventilation I did two things. I added ventilation by just offsetting the glass dome so air could get underneath and storing the bread on its side so it could breath. I was worried it would dry out if I did this and it did dry out a little bit, but it not so much that that portion of bread wasnt edible. It just wasnt quite as soft as a fresh cut.
Results – Not bad, but not the winning combination either.
7. & 8. – Under glass domes (one large one smaller) with ventilation with the bread sitting on its cut edge.
Mould. Mould, mould, mould. I thought using a larger glass dome would maybe prevent the mould from forming so quickly but it didnt.
Results – FAIL.
Keep in mind with all of these methods, I wasnt cutting the bread daily exposing a new fresh end. This would help the bread stay fresher longer because youd have a new cut end all the time which would prevent mould. If you were to use any of these methods while constantly cutting from the bread, they would stay fresh longer.
There was ONE method of storing the bread that worked much better than everything I tried. And here it is.
Yeah. Storing the bread in the bag it came from the bakery in. It was far and away the best method for storing the bread, lol. Another option along these lines is to store it in a paper bag at room temperature.
All of these methods are done using store bought bread but they apply to home baked bread as well.
That’s why you don’t know how to store real bread.
Sliced bread took over the world and ruined your bread storage life skill, turning you into an inept drooling moron.
You can blame Wonder Bread – the worst thing since sliced bread.
Everyone started buying it because it was soft and plush and lasted forever without going mouldy or stale. There was nothing to storing it.
You just left it in its plastic bag and itd stay fresh in your kitchen for as long as a typical tax evasion jail sentence. But in the past 20 years or so (I have completely made that number up) were getting back to eating – and I hate this phrase – real food. That means loaves of crusty, unsliced bread.
And not a single one of us knows how to properly store it to keep it fresh beyond one day.
NO ONE. Not even myself. So I did an experiment involving several loaves of bread and 8 different storage methods.
How long should you leave bread dough to rise for?
FAQ
How long can bread sit out unrefrigerated?
Is it safe to eat bread left out overnight?
How long to leave bread on counter?
Is it better to keep bread in the fridge or counter?
Can you leave fresh bread on the counter overnight?
The only good reason to leave a loaf of fresh bread on the counter overnight is if it just came out of the oven and needs to cool before storing. This is the only time I would say yes to this question. Otherwise, no, you should not leave fresh bread on the counter overnight.
How much bread is safe to consume per day?
Depending on each person and its activity, but the daily recommendation is about 4 slices of bread daily. It is always better to choose brown bread, as it is made of whole grains, and contains much more fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Can you store bread on a countertop?
If you plan to eat the bread quickly, you can store it on your countertop, says Margarethe A. Cooper, PhD, assistant professor of practice and Victor P. Smith Endowed Chair in Food Safety Education at the University of Arizona.
Can you leave bread dough in a bowl?
This depends on the size of the dough. If you’re making a relatively average loaf of bread, then you can easily leave it in the bowl you mixed the dough in. Especially if you’re planning on leaving it in the refrigerator to delay the rise. To make sure it doesn’t get stuck to the bowl, make sure to oil the inside of the bowl.