Hi All! I just made one of my best loaves using this recipe: https://feelingfoodish.com/tartine-bread/#recipe
I’m happy with the results, but just a day after the bread is already getting stale/tough and drying out. How can I prevent this? Are there ways to make it less stale? What are the best choices for storing? Please help.
by Embarrassed-Quiet779
27 Comments
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I’ve seen someone run a slice under water in the sink, squeeze out out the water, and toast it. We just eat a whole loaf within 48 hours. 😄
I put mine in a Ziploc and suck the air out. You can freeze whatever you aren’t going to eat right away, but I just eat the hell out of it. Anything that gets too stale gets turned into seasoned croutons. Also toasting bread or grilled cheese will get you some extra life out of stale bread
Homemade bread is a same-day event. There is a reason that people used to bake bread daily and that preservative were invented. You can do various things, but it is never going to stay fresh into the second day.
Bread is perfectly fine to freeze after baking. I live alone, so I usually slice a few pieces to eat fresh out of the oven, then slice and freeze the rest. I thaw as needed. It’s the only way if you aren’t feeding many mouths.
Check out my sourzhong recipe, basically any sourdough recipe with 5% starter mixed with some of the water from the recipe and cooked until thickened. I baked bread Saturday and it’s still soft and moist. The last bit of bread from Saturday last week is now getting stale but just made a sandwich with it (warm it up)
Wrap it first in wax paper. Then aluminum foil. Works pretty well
Get a Bee’s Bread Wrap, mine lasts 3ish days stored in there after baking and still tastes great.
Disclaimer: I’ve only tried this once – but it worked!
I’m still a newb so I only bake on weekends, and it’s only my hubz & me and we usually don’t keep bread in the house. I made my first almost-there loaf last Friday. I was too impatient & put it away still warm (past my bed time!).
I admit I ate about 1/3 of the boule before then! I didn’t want it to get soggy, so I wrapped it in a clean cotton dish towel (the big thin ones) then put it into a ziplock. The next day I had a hunk with some balsamic vinegar, and we ate the last of it with spaghetti on Sunday. It was still moist enough to eat without toasting and probably would have been good another day or two.
I keep my loaves in canvas bread bags, and keep those in a bread box. Bread stays soft and fresh for about a week. The canvas absorbs moisture, while keeping air off the bread.
Bread box keeps everything good. A bit of moisture is good, a lot of moisture can encourage mold. But sourdough is hearty. The bread box works without the bags, but the bags keep them better, longer.
Never store it in plastic unless it’s in the freezer. I will put an uncut loaf on the counter (actually on my cutting board) for ip to a day. Once I finally slice it, I slice the whole thing and then freeze it (it can go into plastic in the freezer). Take a slice out and throw it in the toaster to eat.
Not being negative, but I’m not used to my breads lasting more than a few days. If you’re baking. Multiple loaves, you can always freeze them and thaw them as you need them..
Here’s my process: bake in the morning and then the loaf sits on the counter cooling all day. I wrap it in a dish towel for the night and then slice it the next day cuz it’s easier than day of. Then I put it in a ziplock bag. I leave it on the counter for a couple days then if there’s any left I put it in the fridge. If I slice into it after baking I leave it cut side down on the cutting board for the entire day. Then slice the next day. Sometimes I just bake it and then freeze it whole after it cools. Or slice it and then freeze.
For fresh milled bread: I put mine in an airtight container and store it at room temp. If not eaten within 48 hrs, it gets tossed or fed to the dog since it is no longer good to eat. I mill my flour fresh and never use refined, so there are tons of raw nutrients that oxidize quickly and go bad, so it’s not really a storable food. Studies show refrigeration accelerates staling, and freezing still shows signs of rancidity at 2 weeks.
I cut my loaf into quarters and freeze 3 out of 4 as soon as I cut it.
I make much smaller loaves, par bake the loaves, freeze the loaves. When I want fresh bread, I take out a loaf from the freezer, put it in a 400f oven for 15 minutes to finish it off and warm it up. I get a nice fresh, loaf with a crisp crunchy crust.
I wrap in a cotton dish towel and put it in a metal breadbox. The crust doesn’t stay crunchy, but the bread stays soft for days. I was very skeptical when I bought the breadbox, but was pleasantly surprised!
I put the cut side down on a cutting board and just leave it. It’s good for a few days.
Airtight container works wonders for me. Or I clice and freeze, then thaw slices in the oven as needed, comes back to life like a charm
I have a small handful of turkey bags, the kind your aunt who can’t cook would roast whole poultry in to “seal in the moisture”. Terrible for turkey. But great as a reusable bread bag. My loaves do start to dry out a bit after 4+5 days. But until then they are pretty stable and I very rarely have one develop any hint of mold.
When I cut it I freeze one half and leave the other half on the cutting board with the cut face down. It’s not perfect but it works
Wet the bread under a faucet, and re-bake to rehydrate the bread. Makes it taste like new.
[https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/how-to-revive-stale-bread?srsltid=AfmBOop5a9glq_ZB7d95BqKc8lDHb4tKSE-_PAYS0C0wQyqj09etzONw](https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/how-to-revive-stale-bread?srsltid=AfmBOop5a9glq_ZB7d95BqKc8lDHb4tKSE-_PAYS0C0wQyqj09etzONw)
Ever since I got a deep freezer, I’m obsessed with freezing everything. Half the loaf gets wrapped in plastic wrap, into a freezer bag and frozen until ready to eat. The other just a regular storage bag. It’ll last on the counter this way 3-4 days before getting “stale”. As others suggest if its too stale that’s great for french toast, croutons, stuffing for Thanksgiving 🙂
I slice it and freeze it. That way I always have fresh bread whenever I want it.
If you have a some that gets hard, run it under the faucet, shake off the excess water, put in oven at 350F for 15 minutes, baddah bing, badda boom, Bob’s your uncle.
reusable bread bag made GRIN BY GRIN, i cut in half, cut the half into slices, then cut the other half
I find that storing the cooled bread in the cooled dutch oven I baked it in keeps the bread pretty fresh, even after its been cut. Just make sure the lid of the dutch oven is on correctly.