In the freezer in freezer bags. The loaf in use goes in the refrigerator. I have read not to do that, but it will get moldy too fast if I don't.

In the freezer. I slice it once it's cold and freeze. We just snap off the slices that we need.

Freezer for all baked goods.

I put it in the fridge. To me it's just fine the way it tastes in the fridge. If I have an extra loaf, it's in the freezer until I'm ready to use it, then I put it in the fridge. If I have hot dog buns or hamburger buns, they stay in the freezer until I need them, I take them out to thaw as needed.

It looks like a lot of you store your bread in the freezer or refrigerator. I would not have enough room to do that. We use our bread up fairly quickly, french toast if it gets a bit on the older side or Apple Brown Betty.

Sue

I do have bread in the freezer, but the fridge tightens the starches and makes it stale. Fine if you're going to heat it, because heating loosens the starches. ;) I keep the bread in use in a basket from a holiday gift on the counter. I used to put it in a little pullout cupboard in my kitchen where all the carbs lived, but I needed it for other things, and all the other carbs are sealed or in canisters so I don't have to worry about them bringing in pantry pests, and I moved them to the pantry (in days of yore we always kept them separate so the bugs couldn't spread far).

Sometimes, with home baked bread, I leave the breadboard on the counter and the bread on top, either wrapped in a birdseye towel or in a plastic bag depending on its moisture level.

I keep my bread in the freezer and only about 6 slices out to use since its just me know.

home baked bread goes in a large, or maybe I should say tall stone ware container with lid. Store bought lives in the freezer... but I never have much bread on hand... I like it fresh. ;)

On the counter, English muffins, brown bread and raisin bread.

Daily usage items are stored on a sheet pan in the oven which prevents the ills most people complain about.

Bread box. On the counter. It has some ventilation, is supposed to be a good environment for bread. It's cheerful too, bright red ;)

Lee, if I kept bread in the oven I would cook it many times over turning the oven to preheat without thinking of it....

Moni, I've never heard of using stoneware. Is it for pretty, or does it keep the bread better?

Bread doesn't last long around me. So it sits out on the counter.

Stoneware is opaque, that may or may not make a difference. Otherwise, besides the choice of it being in something that's airtight or not (if not in a plastic bag), bread doesn't know what kind of a container it's sitting in, it can't matter.

I seldom eat bread....unless it is biscuits that I make. But when I have bread, I keep it in an old metal bread box. A few days later I feed it to my pig.

SW, I thought maybe the coolness kept it fresher or the lack of perfectly air tight discouraged mold or something. It's possible. That's why I asked. It can matter.

Really? I don't think so.

The temperature of anything in a room is the temperature of the room unless it's in the sun or it has been heated or cooled by something else.

If all are sitting on a counter, fruit in a bowl, a spice in a glass jar, soup in a can, coffee in a bag, bread in a stoneware container, etc, will all be the same temperature. Oh, and the counter will be at the same temperature too. If the room temperature changes, each may change at a slightly different rate (based on how the material conducts heat) but all will end up at the same point.

I keep mine in the refrigerator. It keeps for days in there. Before that, it sat out on the counter top and would start to mold in as little as 3 days in summer.

Yep. Thermal mass takes a lot longer to change temperature.

I store homemade gluten-free bread in the freezer because they are poor keepers. When I made all our enriched bread from freshly-milled flour, I stored it at room temperature in a plastic bag OR the freezer. Because of ingredients in the bread - including agave nectar, chia seeds and coconut oil, the bread would keep well for 5-7 days (depending on room temperature). Lean loaves were used immediately (within a couple hours) or frozen. Lean dough breads are the worst keepers. That's why the French and Italians buy bread daily.

There are a lot of variables to consider for yeasted bread storage (commercial or homemade, naturally-leavened or dry yeast, ingredients list - lean dough or enriched - etc,) but the worst place is where the temperature is around 46°F. A refrigerator temperature should be 40°F or colder, so in the world of bread science, the refrigerator is considered the worst place to store bread. A hearty bread (like dense sprouted bread) will keep a little better in the refrigerator than a lean loaf - like Italian bread -- if you use the refrigerator for bread storage. Bread will stale as much in one day at 46°F as bread held at 86°F did in six days - according to the science.

Staling is an aging process and it primarily involves the hardening of texture, but also the loss or change in flavor, and it all starts just 2 short hours after it's taken from the oven. (Note: That's, it BEGINS to stale - it's not stale after 2-hours.) So the best place to store bread is by eating it quickly. ;-)

When freezing bread, place it in a tightly fitted plastic bag (or wrap it tightly with plastic wrap first - the suggested method). If using plastic wrap, then you may want to add a layer of foil over that, or a plastic bread-style bag - not a zip-lock bag which tends to have too much space in it. If the bag is overly-large, then tape the side to make it a tight fit. The close-fitting plastic wrap will help prevent ice crystals from forming (which is moisture migrating from the loaf into the bag), and the extra protection of the plastic bag (or foil) will help prevent odors from other food items from penetrating.

So what happens when bread stales?

-Moisture changes contribute to staling through evaporation and water redistribution. Evaporation can cause a 10% weight loss in unwrapped bread but usually less than 1% in wrapped bread.

-Wrapped bread tastes dry because water has migrated from the crumb to the crust, and from the starch to the gluten.

-The crust softens in wrapped bread and the moisture level in the crust increases from about 12 to 28%. This is when that dry, crisp, pleasant texture of fresh crust changes into the soft, leathery, not-so-pleasant texture of stale crust.

-The taste of fresh bread is usually a combination of sweet, salty, and slightly sour. With age the sweet and salty fades and the remaining sourness starts to build. The aroma of fresh bread is usually yeasty and wheaty, but with age the smell is lost and the doughy or starchy aromas may become stronger and even unpleasant.

In general:

-Unwrapped bread looses moisture and flavor faster, but retains crumb texture better. If you are going to use a loaf quickly, many people just up-end the loaf on the cutting board (cut side down). At most, toss a cotton dish towel over it (to keep "critters" off). This method is used when the people like the better crumb.

-Wrapped bread stays softer (especially when wrapped when just slightly warm from the oven) and tastes better (especially when wrapped when completely cool), but the crust softens faster.

Technical "crap":

***Crumb firming is fastest at low temperatures between 20° and 50°F.

***High temperatures - above 95°F - affect color and flavor.

***70°-95°F is the optimum storage temperature for bread. (FYI - Room temperature is considered 70°F.)

***Freezing at 0° to -20°F has the effect of about one day's storage time, but then effectively stops all aspects of staling indefinitely. In other words, freezer bread will be like eating day-two bread.

Heat to the rescue:

In order to re-gelatinize the starches in stale (or staling) bread, heat "old" bread to a temperature of 120°F, which temporarily reverses the staling process.

***For one slice of bread, spritz water on it with a fine mixt spritzer and warm the slice/s in the toaster for a few seconds.

***For an entire loaf, wrap it in foil and bake it for 10 to 20 minutes at 300°-350° F.

Re-gelatinization is only good ONE time. Don't try this 2-3 times on the same slice/loaf of bread.

***What about the microwave? A good way to alter the bread quicker than anything other than refrigerating is to zap it for a few seconds in the microwave.

***If stale bread is frozen, it will be stale bread when it is defrosted.

[The following information is a glimpse of what I teach in my bread classes. -Grainlady]

Extra loaves are in the freezer. The bread loaf being used is on top of the extra toaster or on the counter.

Yeah, there's a reason people use marble or granite surfaces to roll out dough that needs to be kept cool. I also wonder if stone wear might not absorb a little moisture, if it's not sealed on the inside.

I keep mine in the freezer because we don't use it much. I tried a breadbox and my pantry, but the bread molded very quickly! Bread that is kept in a fridge tastes stale to me.

I keep store-bought bread in an old enamel bread box. Homemade bread is kept on the counter--since it has no preservatives, it will mold in a few days, if it's forgotten in a bread box. It rarely lasts that long, though.

I make all of my baked goods. If they won't be used within a day or two, I keep breads, rolls, muffins, etc. in the freezer. Otherwise I keep them in a clear acrylic vented bread box.... and if they must stay extra-moist I also wrap in plastic bags.

I keep bread in a drawer. I read once that refrigerating it makes it go stale faster. I have not put bread in the freezer in years because I remember it always having a funky taste.

I remember growing up when we first got a freezer my Mother would freeze bread and then to serve it put it over boiling water in a strainer to steam it. We girls liked it then. I doubt if I would like it now.

Sue

I do have a bread drawer in my Seller's kitchen cabinet, but I have other things in it.

Sue

I have a bread drawer, a plastic insert in one of the drawers in my base cabs. It actually does seem to keep the bread fresher longer.

Cool range, Bungalowmo! Is that a built in stockpot?

Extra bread in the freezer, loaf currently being used is kept in an oak breadbox on the kitchen counter.

Thanks for the info grainlady!

It took me far too long to figure out why my banana nut bread always had tasty crust out of the oven but soft bleh crust the next day. I finally just stopped wrapping it and it kept the crust! Now I know the science behind it. :)

As to the original question, bread is kept out on the counter or in my bread box. NEVER in the fridge! I will store extra loaves in the freezer and put them on the counter to thaw when I need them.

It looks like bungalowmo has what we used to call a deep well on her stove. I used to have a stove that had that, way back in the early 1950's. Pretty nice range she has.

Sue

Breadbox...if I buy extra I either keep it in the pantry or freeze it.

Down my throat.

o j

On the counter or in the freezer. Never in the frig. Don't use much bread anymore.