Since it was just me here this week, I didn't quite finish my loaf of this bread. (The second loaf was given away - I knew two loaves were beyond any reasonable capacity for bread-eating.) Amazingly enough, when toasted it was still tasty today - a full 6 days after baking it!
I credit this to my storage technique. Under P's influence, we were keeping the bread in the refrigerator. According to the King Arthur Flour cookbook, this is wrong, all wrong. The best way to store bread like the whole wheat loaf I made is by wrapping it well in plastic wrap and keeping it at room temperature. A refrigerator creates the magical best circumstances for staling (so if you want something to go stale, that's where you should put it).
Lesson learned. The next bread - a cinnamon swirl bread - is on hold until I can get to the store to buy one more necessary ingredient that got left off the list today...
I credit this to my storage technique. Under P's influence, we were keeping the bread in the refrigerator. According to the King Arthur Flour cookbook, this is wrong, all wrong. The best way to store bread like the whole wheat loaf I made is by wrapping it well in plastic wrap and keeping it at room temperature. A refrigerator creates the magical best circumstances for staling (so if you want something to go stale, that's where you should put it).
Lesson learned. The next bread - a cinnamon swirl bread - is on hold until I can get to the store to buy one more necessary ingredient that got left off the list today...
I've found that bread usually lasts longer in the fridge, actually. I recall leaving a loaf in there over winter break one year, and coming back and finding it in pristine condition. On the other hand, bread left out on the counter (even if wrapped) doesn't last more than a week or two.
ReplyDeleteI think the next time a recipe makes 2 loaves, I'll pit them head to head - one on the counter, one in the fridge - and see which one goes stale faster. It may also depend on the type of bread - a crusty loaf vs. a sandwich loaf, for instance...so many variables...
ReplyDeleteHave you ever tried freezing it? I was doubtful of this initially, but tried it, and it tastes like it was made yesterday. Just put it in the toaster to defrost. Of course, it works better with sliced bread, but this was how I was able to keep bread for weeks - and it doesn't get hard/stale as some bread do in the fridge.
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