There is really no good way....which is why you need to make bread every day. Don't make a large baguette, make a small one if it's just for you alone.
If you wrap it in foil or plastic the crust will get soft....if you store in paper the whole thing gets brick hard.

I store mine in plastic and make toast or bread pudding....or in extreme cases crumbs out of day old bread.

Why wait until tomorrow? make it today and you can bake some tomorrow.
Linda c

That's what I thought the answer would be. Thought I would ask the pros just to be sure. I'll make the small loaves and if there are leftovers cut it into cubes for croutons. Good thing I got 3 Cambro containers/lids for storage of the dough.

I'm really interested in making a dark pumpernickle rye bread with sauerkraut. I might have to store the dough a couple of days and mix in the finely chopped and drained kraut before I bake it. I'm going to take a sample to the Crossroads Bakery near my house. I'm hoping to convince them to make it to sell in the bakery. They use their bakery breads in their deli restaurant. They have the best Rueben - but who can eat 1 pound of corned beef? The whole sandwich must weigh almost 1 pound and a half. The sandwich is usually 3 meals for me.

I don't make artisan bread but I do buy it to freeze.
I cut it in chunks and freeze in freezer Ziploc bags. Perfectly fresh when I want some.

Freeze long term or fridge for a week. Warm up in an oven. It is still good. That's the way life goes, we can't have perfection all the time.

I'll bake two small loaves to start. I'll try the freezer way of storing just for fun. I can always make it into soup croutons or bread crumbs if I don't like it. I also can't wait to try Ann T's cheddar and garlic baguette. I also want to try the baguette with olives and maybe capers!

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'm in the middle of reading the book, 52 Loaves, and have just read the part where one of the experts he talks with says not to refrigerate bread, that it actually goes stale faster in the fridge. This expert, and I'll have to get back to you on the name of the person, said the best way to store home baked bread is cut side down on a bread board. She said not to put it in plastic, but in a cloth or paper bag. Freezing is okay, though, just not refrigerating.

I'm going to be gone from my computer for a few days, so it'll be next week before I can find the quote in the book, and the name of the expert. Don't have time now. By the way, it's an excellent read. I'm really enjoying it.

Sally

Okay, here's the quote from William Alexander, on pages 80-81 in his book, 52 Loaves. He's quoting an answer he got from a neighbor, named Heloise Ledbedder.

"Refrigerating bread actually hastens staling. To see why this is, let's back up to examine what happens when bread bakes. As the dough warms, starch granules absorb moisture from the gluten, swelling and giving bread its structure. This is what keeps the loaf from deflating after it comes out of the oven. After the bread cools, the action begins to reverse: water gradually moves from the starchy walls back into the gluten, leaving the crumb dry and crumbly. This process is highly temperature-dependent, occurring much faster at 34 degrees F. than at 70 degrees, so keep bread out of the fridge! and out of plastic.

"The best way to store fresh bread is on a breadboard, cut side down. A whole loaf can be stored in a paper or cloth bag, or frozen in a plastic bag and thawed in the oven, or on the breadboard. And remember that stale peasant bread makes great french toast."

Anyway, I thought that was interesting, since I've always allowed my bread to cool, then put it into a plastic bag, just like store-bought bread. If I freeze it, I wrap it in foil, then plastic, and freeze it.

Sally

But....if you read further you will find that heating reverses the process of "staleing"...so re warmed or toasted bread is good.
Linda C

The best way to store homemade bread is to wrap in papertowels and store in freezer bags.

I bake 4 to 8 loaves at a time and have been storing bread this way for years. It defrosts without getting soggy.

Ann

Thank you all for your answers. And thanks Ann T. I wondered how you stored yours as all of your photos have multiple loaves.

I will try that method.

Teresa

It takes single-me at least two weeks to eat up ONE loaf of bread. I put it in the fridge after two days, so it doesn't MOLD, at which point it will be not good at all. I freeze half loaves and rolls and baguettes to thaw out later to serve at parties. There are lots of ways to use up less than stellarly fresh bread. You can even revive hard crusty bread by misting it with water and heating it in the oven. That's a trick I learned from my brother in Germany. But it has to be good solid quality bread to begin with. French toast, panzanella, fatoush, riboletta, croutons, welsh rarebit, creamed chipped beef on toast, onion soup, strata, bread pudding, Canarybird's Vegetable and Bread Stew--"Sopas Mallorquinas" (to die for) . . . to name a few uses for "stale" bread.

Good suggestions, LPink!

Sally

I have nothing new to add here.
I often freeze breads, both home made and "store-bought."
I seal it well in plastic wrap, then freeze.
If it is going to be in the freezer for awhile,
I put it in a food saver bag and seal it.
(after it is frozen, so the vacumming doesn't crush it)

But I want to ask, lpink, what is "Sopas Mallorquinas" ?

Rusty

Rusty - that caught my attention also. I found it on Sharoncb's website. Sounds delicious. I make an Italian Bread soup which is yet another take on this delicious soup.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sharoncb's Sopas Mallorquinas

. . . and bruschetta, which I forgot to put on the list, which I had last night. And don't get me started on things to do with dried breadcrumbs. But I digress. Yes, that's Sharon's recipe and one of my favorites, prefect for fall.

BTW, DO NOT freeze your bread in the paper sack it came in. I found that out when I thawed a baguette that I quickly froze when I had to go out of town unexpectedly after I bought it. The ends had freezer burn. It still made great brushetta though, the middle parts. If you freeze bread, you have to wrap it up real good, like maybe in saran wrap and then foil, or it dries out. I am often guilty of haphazardly wrapping my frozen bread. Great idea to freeze and then vacume seal. Wish I had a vacume sealer, lol! My friends have one and they love it.