"Freezing bread is the best way to preserve that crusty loaf for the longest time possible. Wrap tightly in a freezer bag, either whole or sliced. I like to put wax paper between slices when I freeze, as this makes it easier to take out just what I need.
Freeze your bread
Bread might go stale ASAP when it's refrigerated, but freezing it is actually one of the best ways to extend its shelf life. Freezing your bread will prevent mold growth and stop staleness in its tracks.
According to Baker, it isn't advisable to store bread in the refrigerator. Although it would still be perfectly healthy to eat, she cautions that it will become a lot less palatable because the cold temperatures of the fridge will cause the starch in your bread to recrystallize and lose moisture.
Wrapping bread and storing it at room temperature will help it retain moisture for a few days. But what if you can't finish the whole loaf in that amount of time? Freezing is the answer. The takeaway: If you're storing bread longer than a few days, it's best to keep it in the freezer.
In general, most loaves will last up to a week at room temperature, and three to five days longer in the fridge—though keep in mind that refrigeration can make bread go stale. Bread that goes stale is still useful for breadcrumbs, croutons, and bread pudding.
A good rule of thumb is: If an entire loaf is more than you can eat, immediately freeze half to enjoy later. For the best results, it is crucial to freeze bread while it's still fresh. Most breads freeze very well with little to no loss in quality or texture.
"But if you take a long time to consume your bread, [if your kitchen] is warm and humid, and especially if the bread is homemade, it is worth refrigerating to prevent mold growth," she adds. Homemade bread does not contain the preservatives that help keep it from spoiling that most store-bought breads have.
In truth, the bread is actually protected from going stale when kept in the fridge, and that hardening is simply the bread's natural reaction to the cold temperatures.
Yes, you can refrigerate bread to stop mold from forming. However, we don't recommend this option because it almost always guarantees stale bread, and reviving stale bread is never a good thing. On the other hand, putting bread inside the freezer is a better choice than refrigerated bread.
Commercially baked breads and rolls can be stored at room temperature for 2 to 4 days or 7 to 14 days in the refrigerator. Bread products retain their quality when stored in the freezer for 3 months. Any breads containing meat or hard cooked eggs must be refrigerated within 2 hours.
Take all that unused, mass-produced bread - the 24 million slices we chuck away everyday – and pop them in the freezer. Why? Because just like cooking and cooling, freezing also turns starch into resistant starch. Amazingly, this means that your body gets far fewer calories from the bread.
When you put your dough in the fridge it slows the yeast activity down. It takes ten times longer for dough to rise in the fridge than it does at room temperature. This means you can put your dough in the fridge overnight or whilst you are at work and come back to it when you are ready.
Whether you're buying loaves of bread, frozen bagels, or frozen pizza dough, there is no difference in the nutritional quality of the bread.
If you do freeze your bread in slices, he explains that this may speed up the dehydration process, and give your bread a more stale taste and texture.
It starts to go mouldy after just three-to-seven days at room temperature, though, meaning it has a short shelf-life. To increase that life, sealing stored bread and using a fridge when needed can help prevent mould from taking over the loaf so quickly.
Best practice is to store eggs in the fridge; that way the temperature is always at a constant and your eggs will be fresher!
Most shop-bought bread lasts well in the freezer for up to 4-6 months. The main exception to this is very crusty bread like a French baguette, which can come apart after it's been frozen and thawed, so is best just eaten on the day it's bought, fresh from the boulangerie (or supermarket).
To save bread so it stays fresh longer, you can store it in plastic wrap, a reusable zip-top plastic bag, or a bread box. Avoid storing bread in damp, airy locations, which can speed up molding. If you're not going to eat the loaf in two or three days, the best option is to freeze it for later.
The best way to thaw frozen bread is to place the slices on a plate (uncovered) and microwave them on high power for 15 to 25 seconds. This will get the starch and water molecules to break down the crystalline regions, producing soft, ready-to-eat bread.
The results were significant. The highest GI was noted after the fresh white bread was eaten. Toasting the fresh bread lowered lowered the GI, but freezing the bread without toasting lowered the GI by 31% and freezing and then toasting lowered the GI most of all by 39%. This is good news for white bread fans.
Keeping bread on the fridge will cause paper-bagged bread to dry out, and plastic-bagged bread to mold faster. This comes from all the heat your fridge is putting out. Same for storing near a dishwasher; the excess heat and moisture these appliances give off is not bread-friendly.
“If the dough has risen too long, it's going to feel fragile and might even collapse as you poke it,” says Maggie. If this is the case, there's a chance you can save your dough by giving it a quick re-shape. Learn more about this fix in our blog on saving overproofed dough.
Allowing the bread dough to rise for too long can ruin the texture and the taste of the bread. Both of these things are important when you want your bread to turn out right. The dough ferments as it continues to rise. If this process goes on for too long, you could wind up with bread that has a sour taste.