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Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

culinarylore.com

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Re: Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

#81

Post by barrkel »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #50
barrkel wrote: post #36

Since the COVID lockdown in February, we've mostly switched over to part-baked bread rolls, individually packaged and baked on demand - 3 minutes to heat the oven, 10 minutes baking, and you've got a fresh warm roll, and most importantly, it has a crisp crust. It's a low labour medium between baking your own bread and buying bread almost every day, which is what I used to do. In fact I used buying bread as an excuse…

Interesting, I haven't noticed these sold but I haven't been looking. You buy at an ordinary grocery store? National brands? In the freezer section?

No, they are part baked, and sealed in a protective atmosphere (nitrogen, I expect).

Here:

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/fitzgeralds-2-sourdou...

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/bread-and-...

They last about a month in a pantry, unrefrigerated.

A significant fraction (if not all) supermarket bakery bread is shipped as frozen part-baked. This is roughly the same thing but in nitrogen rather than frozen.

Re: Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

#82

Post by lostlogin »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #38
egypturnash wrote: post #23

I live in a hot, humid, tropical city. If you leave bread out it will become a mold colony once you've opened the bag. Fresh, room-temperature bread is a luxury only available for sandwiches made immediately after opening the bag. Bread lives in the fridge after that. If you want to revivify your bread when it comes out of the fridge, sprinkle a little water on the underside and put it in the oven on a low temperatur…

You've caught an important detail- that it molds once you've opened the bag- but only if you leave it there in after. Bread boxes are one of those relics that faded into obscurity after the mid-century in the US, often becoming homes to all the other things you didn't know what to do with on your counters, but they used to serve an important role in keeping bread fresh and protected. When we switched from formed doug…

The Chorleywood process which industrialised bread making is credited by some with destroying bread as a staple and replacing it with tasteless and nutrition free alternative.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl...

Re: Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

#83

Post by lostlogin »

mikepurvis wrote: post #31
jnellis wrote: post #7

I've been making two loaves a week, sourdough and rye, for over a year now. After they cool overnight they go in the fridge for a couple hours just to make slicing them easier, then they get bagged and go in the freezer. This seems like it maintains 'freshness' the best. The toaster is more or less set to defrost a frozen slice on the first run and toast it on the second. Ironically, the starter mix does live in the…

I have three kids and have been baking bread for over a decade— I do 4-5 loaves at once, and it's a mix of white, wheat, sourdough, and regular yeast. Between toast for breakfast and maybe grilled cheese the next day for lunch, we can wipe out a loaf in 24 hours, so I don't bother with the individual-slice freezing thing and just freeze/defrost whole loaves at once. Once defrosted, it lives in a grocery bag in the fr…

Nothing beats grilled cheese on sourdough (assuming that is the same as “cheese on toast”). Your kids are lucky.

Re: Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

#84

Post by vb6sp6 »

Dalrymple wrote: post #77

Could someone explain why the thin flatbread known as the tortilla seems to last much longer in a sealed bag? Ordinary bread molds on me in 4-5 days. I have kept a bag of tortillas around for a couple weeks without any mold. They do get stale if one forgets to seal the zip-type bag.

The tortillas likely have have chemical leaving and extra preservatives. Make tortillas from scratch and they will also mold in a few days.

Re: Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

#85

Post by shampine »

renewiltord wrote: post #71
crazygringo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you basically just always eat stale bread? It might be worth trying to heat it sometimes. ;) Because the article doesn't make it entirely clear: to "de-stale" bread, it's not enough to bring it back to room temperature. You actually have to heat it to the "gelation point" (140°F) to undo the chemical reaction that made it stale in the first place. [1] So even if you don't want it toasted, a quick zap in the microw…

Damn, the process there is more time intensive than anything else. I'd just skip it, trash the stale bread and do a 10 minute grocery trip. How much is a loaf anyway? $10?

About the same as a bluth banana.

Generally $3-$5.

Re: Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

#86

Post by stevenwoo »

lolinder wrote: post #28
crazygringo wrote: post #24

The article's facts are right, but its conclusion is kinda wrong. Don't put your bread in the fridge -- slice it and put it in the freezer! Because in either case you need to heat it up in the oven/toaster anyways, so you might as well put it somewhere where it will keep for months, rather than weeks.

I store my bread in the fridge and never heat it up. I just make a sandwich and eat it as is.

I find the texture better and it lasts longer if I just freeze it and heat it up in the oven for five minutes at 250 F. By myself a whole loaf would end up moldy before I could make it more than a few slices in even in the refrigerator, but this way I don't have to waste bread to enjoy sandwiches at the pace I normally eat them, periodically.

Re: Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

#87

Post by stevenwoo »

sfg wrote: post #29
crazygringo wrote: post #24

The article's facts are right, but its conclusion is kinda wrong. Don't put your bread in the fridge -- slice it and put it in the freezer! Because in either case you need to heat it up in the oven/toaster anyways, so you might as well put it somewhere where it will keep for months, rather than weeks.

Does refrigeration give a longer duration than freezing from intial storage to time at which heating is required?

For me I personally have had bread grow mold in the refrigerator (this may depend on the refrigerator settings/locale, my non a/c condo in San Francisco bay area is relatively humid so strawberries/blueberries/bread at room temp gets mold pretty quick) and have not had bread grow mold in the freezer before I eat it and that can take months for me to make it through the double loafs one gets at warehouse stores.

Re: Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019)

#89

Post by m0zg »

We only store bread in a freezer, and use toaster to warm it up and toast it for consumption. This only really works with pre-sliced bread and serves 2 important functions:

1. Reduce the amount of bread we eat. You take out a slice and that's all you're going to eat, since it takes 2 minutes or so to toast it in the toaster.

2. Prevent bread from going moldy/dry/stale. You can enjoy a single loaf for a week this way.

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