How do you store your bread?

[kenny]

How do you store your bread?

 

[kenny]

I do all 3 so I voted Other.

About once a week I bake two loaves of bread.
No preservatives and only two eaters means it would spoil at room temp.

Most goes into the freezer, after manually sucking most air out of a Zip Lock freezer bag.
My otherwise-wonderful FoodSaver Vacuum bagger pulls such a strong vacuum it crushes bread flat.
Don't ask me how I know this.

Some bread goes into the fridge.
Every morning one day's worth comes out of the fridge and stays at room temp.

What do you do?

 

[dk168]

I live on my own, and a loaf of bread can last me for a week or longer.

During the warmer months when I have sandwiches for lunch, I would keep the loaf at room temperature so that I can have soft bread slices for making sandwiches (I take the bits and pieces required to work for assembly as I hate soggy sandwiches), until it starts to harden, usually about 3 or 4 days after I have opened the packaging.

I would then transfer the remainder into the fridge and have toasts for breakfast until it is finished.

In the colder months, a new loaf would go straight into the fridge unless it does not have room. Otherwise it would stay at room temperature until I can find space in the fridge.

Too much hassle to make bread just for myself, so it is shop-bought ready made loaf instead, current favourite is one with 5 types of seeds, including sesame seeds, yum!

DK

 

[kenny]

... current favourite is one with 5 types of seeds, including sesame seeds, yum!

Are the sesame seeds sprinkled on the top, or inside the bread itself?

I always grind up and add some flax seed and hulled-millet seed to my dough, but I keep eyeing my unused jar of sesame seeds.

 

[dk168]

... current favourite is one with 5 types of seeds, including sesame seeds, yum!

I must ask about the sesame seeds.
Are they sprinkled on the top, or are they just inside the bread itself?

I always grind up and add some flax seed and hulled-millet seed to my dough, but I keep eyeing my unused jar of sesame seeds.

It looks like sesame seeds are inside the bread as well as being sprinkled on top before baking.

I tried other brands of seeded breads and they are not as nice without the sesame seeds.

DK

 

[JewelFreak]

You all are making me hungry! Bread molds in 2 days here so it lives in the freezer. If I want to use it untoasted, I put it in the toaster for just long enough to thaw it -- or leave it on the counter at room temp & it's thawed in about 15 minutes.

 

[diamondringlover]

I usually buy 2 loafs at a time...sometimes more if it is on sale...and I leave 1 loaf at room temperature and the others will go in the freezer, we go thru about a loaf a week during the time my son is in school because of school lunches..in the summer a loaf will last a couple of weeks.

 

[telephone89]

Room temp, in the pantry.

 

[Niel]

Fridge for me ALWAYS. My husband never grew up like that, so he was a little confused by it when we moved in together. But room temp bread goes bad so fast comparatively. If toast it and youd never know it was ever cold. Dont want it toasted? microwave it for 10 seconds and it steams itself, make it it light and nice...

 

[alpackie]

Whenever I get "real" bread from the baker, I place it sliced-side down on a wooden cutting board and cover it loosely with a kitchen towel.

 

[cflutist]

Funny you should mention it.
Normally we store bread in the fridge, but this time hubby left it out.
Well we are having a heat wave in CA right now, so when I tried to make a sandwich tonight for tomorrow (going to a conference and am a picky eater), I found mold growing on some of the rolls after just 3 days.

 

[packrat]

On the counter during cold months, fridge when it's warm/humid. I don't like putting it in the fridge b/c it's not as soft but not really much of a choice sometimes.

Gramma Joyce used to make her own bread and that was THE best. Crumbs everywhere, homemade apple butter and scrambled eggs for breakfast. mmmmmm.

 

[FrekeChild]

Room temperature or the freezer. The air in the fridge makes it stale faster, but stalls mold growth.

Nothin' worse than stale bread. Unless you're making French toast, bread pudding or stuffing.

 

[iLander]

... current favourite is one with 5 types of seeds, including sesame seeds, yum!

Are the sesame seeds sprinkled on the top, or inside the bread itself?

I always grind up and add some flax seed and hulled-millet seed to my dough, but I keep eyeing my unused jar of sesame seeds.

DD has been making a lot of Amish bread lately. Interestingly, it has no milk or eggs, but tastes delicious.

She brushes the top with egg and sprinkles tons of sesame seeds on top. Fabulous!

 

[iLander]

Forgot to say

I freeze a lot of bread, bagels, muffins, etc when they are fresh and microwave them for 30 seconds when needed. They come out perfectly fresh.

 

[Saoirse2]

Loosely wrapped in linen cloth [unsliced /completely cooled]

 

[Autumnovember]

Kenny, if you don't mind sharing, how do you make your bread? My parents friend just gave them some kind of kitchen gadget that makes bread and my mom asked if I want it. And I do but I have no idea where to begin....besides Google lol.

 

[kenny]

Kenny, if you don't mind sharing, how do you make your bread? My parents friend just gave them some kind of kitchen gadget that makes bread and my mom asked if I want it. And I do but I have no idea where to begin....besides Google lol.

I think there are basically three ways to make bread:

1. 100% by hand with hand-kneading.
2. Using an electric mixer to knead the dough.
3. A bread-making machine mixes and kneads the dough, accommodates the rise periods and bakes the bread ... all in one pan/machine. It is the simplest way to make fresh bread and may users love them, especially the better models. More advanced bakers don't use them to have more control of everything.

I use the second method.
For better nutrition I mill my own wheat kernels into flour right before use with my Wonder Mill, below.
I buy wheat kernels at Winco for around 50 cents a pound.



I did some research and many on bread-making fora.
Though pricey they consider this the best home mixer for kneading dough.
Here's a video about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMB4CVG5fLs


I let the dough rise in a large chest cooler with a 25w light bulb off to the side and inserted into a glass pitcher so it doesn't melt the plastic cooler.
I keep peeking till it about doubles in size.


Here is the basic recipe I use.
It is from the Bread Becker Cookbook ... they produced the above video on the mixer.

 

[Autumnovember]

Wooooaaaaahhhhh. I really hope that whatever their friend gave them is gonna make it simple! Looks like it takes some work! Thank you for sharing!

 

[kenny]

Yes it takes some work.
But it's an old-fashioned bygone-era, love-hobby thing.
I hear the average American watches more than 5 hours of TV daily so I don't feel to bad about the time it takes to bake bread.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watches-5-hours-tv-day-article-1.1711954

Now that I've been doing it about a year I figure I have it down to maybe 25 minutes of hands-on time of the total time of 4 hours.
The rest of the time is waiting for the mixer to knead the dough, the bread to rise, and the bread to bake and cool.
Because of all the waiting I only bake bread when I have other things to do around the house.

There are very good reasons almost nobody bakes bread today.
There are also very good reasons that a few of us do. CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP.

 

[Autumnovember]

Yes it takes some work.
But it's an old-fashioned bygone-era, love-hobby thing.
I hear the average American watches more than 5 hours of TV daily so I don't feel to bad about the time it takes to bake bread.
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watches-5-hours-tv-day-article-1.1711954

Now that I've been doing it about a year I figure I have it down to maybe 25 minutes of hands-on time of the total time of 4 hours.
The rest of the time is waiting for the mixer to knead the dough, the bread to rise, and the bread to bake and cool.
Because of all the waiting I only bake bread when I have other things to do around the house.

There are very good reasons almost nobody bakes bread today.
There are also very good reasons that a few of us do. CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP.

I can only imagine how amazing it probably smells when baking, OMG. Ok, maybe I'll give it a shot.

 

[urseberry]

kenny, may we see a picture of your finished loaves? They sound delicious.

 

[kenny]

Thanks, I don't have any fresh bread to photograph, but I posted this a while back.
My buns are just a different shape for the same recipe.

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/hey-ladies-look-at-my-sexy-buns.203690/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/hey-ladies-look-at-my-sexy-buns.203690/[/URL]

IIRC these have some ground millet seeds in the dough, which gives a rich taste and soft moist texture.

 

[urseberry]

Hehe, how could I have forgotten the thread about your buns? Thanks for the pictures!

 

[chrono]

What is the trick to keeping the bread soft inside? My parents have a breadmaker but I will only eat the bread when it is first taken out. I find it very hard/dry by Day 2 and I have a thing against microwaving breads.

 

[kenny]

What is the trick to keeping the bread soft inside? My parents have a breadmaker but I will only eat the bread when it is first taken out. I find it very hard/dry by Day 2 and I have a thing against microwaving breads.

I also do not like using the microwave for bread.
It seems to dry the bread and make it hard and chewy.
I use the toaster.

I think my bread is soft and moist because of the gluten and the soy lecithin this recipe calls for.
I've never made bread without it.

Another thing ... I actually have moved away from making loaves of bread unless family is visiting.
I now prefer sandwich sized rolls because loaves start to dry out after you slice a piece off.
This would be fine if you were serving several people and eating the whole loaf at one meal.
But if not, every piece you subsequently cut is from the exposed end had time to dry out.

Rolls are single servings with the moisture sealed in by the crust.
A pan of water boiling in the bottom of the oven gives you a more substantial crust which I find helps the bread inside stay moister longer.

Whether in the freezer, fridge or room temp I store bread in a ziplock bag with the extra air sucked out (yes, with my lips) ...
This prevents moisture-related freezer burn.
I suspect it also helps slow spoilage by reducing the amount of oxygen and airborne mold spores the bread is in contact with.
Let fresh bread from oven cool completely before putting in bags.

 

[chrono]

Another thing ... I actually have moved away from making loaves of bread unless family is visiting. I now prefer sandwich sized rolls because loaves start to dry out after you slice a piece off. This would be fine if you were serving several people and eating the whole loaf at one meal. But if not, every piece you subsequently cut is from the exposed end had time to dry out.

Yes, this is the problem and I was hoping there's a way around it.

 

[FancyIntense]

2 or 3 days out, then to the fridge for 2-3 making toasted things or a desperate cold bread sandwhich. Then toss to the birdies.