keeping bread

[NMDemDist2]

I am in the habit in the winter of baking all our bread (have two loaves working right now)

what is the best way to "keep" the other loaf so it's as tasty and fresh as the first loaf?

I have plastic wrap, foil, Glad press N seal etc etc

suggestions?

[wryter2000]

1. Kick

Mostly I want to see other folks' answers.

I think most people freeze bread. I do, but I'm not overly thrilled with the results.

[politicat]

2. I bake 'em one at a time.

The recipe from Baking Illustrated works best as single loaves, and my stand mixer does better with smaller batches.

My sister, who bakes 2 at a time, uses both loaves simultaneously, and just plans on stale bread dishes (bread pudding, french toast, stuffing, etc.) She normally has about 10 slices of stale bread at the end of the week. It's just her and my nephew at home (her husband is on assignment for Boeing, so he lives in Phoenix, with my mother....) and they do lots of sandwiches.

My mother always froze or fridged our bread, but I don't like the way it absorbs flavors in the fridge, and it dries out in the freezer.

[NMDemDist2]

3. i could bake them one at a time, so that raises the question

how do I keep the dough? when to freeze? after first rise? before it rises? after the final rise?

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

4. I think you freeze after the first rise,

then thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then pull it out & go for the second rise (which of course, takes longer because it has to get to room temp)

Hopefully, housewolf will be here soon & help.

:hi:

[NMDemDist2]

5. i'm gonna give it a try, my first rise was just done, so I divided the

batch, sprayed some Pam on a piece of cling wrap, made a flattened disc of dough, wrapped the cling wrapped disc in "press N seal" then into a ziplock

with my schedule, i could take it out at the night before and let it defrost in the fridge then at 5AM form it into a loaf pan, then when I get home at noon or 1PM it should be ready to bake

does that sound right?

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

6. sounds good.

go for it. The worst that can happen is a flat loaf or something.

[NMDemDist2]

7. i'll update this thread later in the week when I bake the second loaf n/t

[housewolf]

9. Keeping Bread

Sorry I've been so quiet - I've been sick with pneumonia all week and spent the week laying on the couch either sleeping or trying to muster enough strenth to stand up...

I've never frozen dough in order to bake it off later, but I know that others have and it obviously works... witness Bridgeford and Rhodes frozen dough products. I'd recommend allowing the dough to rise once then punch down and freeze immediately. I'd expect a frozen loaf to have a little less volume due to some loss of yeast while frozen but it should bake up nicely.

Because I live alone, I often freeze bread just so I don't have to throw so much of it away. Yes, the texture changes somewhat, depending on how long it's in the freezer. I haven't noticed a problem with bread taking on a freezer-taste, I just put it in a Glad Freezer Bag or something, and it seems fine for a little while. One way that seems to work well is to slice the loaf and put a paper towel between each slice - this gives something to absorb the condensation and it allows you to thaw only as many slices as you want at a time.

The refrigerator is probably the worst way to store bread - it stales faster in the refrigerator than any other way, although it may hold off molding better than letting it sit out.

For sourdough loaves, one of the best methods is to keep it cut-side down on a cutting board, as the sourdough culture improves its keeping ability.

Also, a "rich" dough (one that has egg, milk, butter and other fats added) will naturally last much longer than a "lean" dough - such as a french loaf made from only water, flour, yeast and salt.

I can't wait to hear how your experiment turns out!

[NMDemDist2]

10. i'm so sorry to hear you're not well

this brown cloud has been brutal on lots of folks, DH is just now on the mend from a horrible sinus infection

:hug: feel better real soon, i've had pneumonia and it's awful, you have my sympathy

as for the bread, the other half didn't rise once i split them :shrug:

i'm gonna go cut it right now, be right back with a review

i'm probably gonna bake the other one Tues or Wed.....

edit to add

the loaf has a very crispy crust and small air holes evenly throughout and it tastes fine, it just looks like a brick lol

dunno what's up with that... :shrug:

[housewolf]

13. How curious...

Tell me, did the loaf rise at all, or did it stay the same size during your whole final rise?

Was there anything else unusual about the dough?

I'll be interested in hearing your the frozen portion bakes up. I was thinking that another way to freeze some dough would be to shape in into a loaf and then wrap & freeze it. On the day you want to bake it, take it out of the freezer and put it straight into a greased loaf pan, let it thaw and then bake. That would cut down on the handling on bake day and might save some time.

[NMDemDist2]

15. it rose about 3/4 the second time and barely 50% the last rise in the pan

again, it tastes fine and the texture is a bit heavy but not horribly so

I'll be interested to see how the other loaf rises too.....

Wednesday probably

are you feeling better? hope so!

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

11. I'm so sorry to hear that you've been sick.

DH just got some nasty thing that DIL & the grandbabies went through. 36 hours of non-stop up chucking. Weird. Flu would have lasted much longer & I've never heard of a 24 stomach bug other than food poisoning.

Anyhoo, I know how exhausting it can be just watching him. Sending good thoughts that you'll soon feel 100 percent fine & ready to bake.

:hi:

[Wordie]

12. Ideas on bread in the refrigerator:

The refrigerator is probably the worst way to store bread - it stales faster in the refrigerator than any other way, although it may hold off molding better than letting it sit out.

I've found that putting the bread first into a paper bag, (if it doesn't come with a paper wrapper - I'm talking about store bought bread here, although I don't see any reason that this might not work for home baked, too) and then putting it in a second plastic bag before placing it in the refrigerator, seems to work to keep bread in the refrigerator fresher, longer. It probably works on the same principles as your tip about the paper towels between the slices.

I can't say that it would stay as fresh and delicious as a home baked bread, fresh out of the oven, though.

My best wishes for a speedy recovery, housewolf.

[NMDemDist2]

8. hmmmm the divided dough is taking forever to rise

the second rise went ok but it's been 3 hours in the pan and it's only half way there...

it did get a bit cool, but i had it sitting next to expresso machine which normally throws off quite a bit of heat

:shrug:

[housewolf]

14. Thanks everybody,

For your well-wishes. I'm doing better, even planning on going back to work on Monday. Finally, today I was able to eat a bit and it helped.

Now I have a big decision to make... I haven't had a cup of coffee since Tuesday morning. Do I take the opportunity to stay off coffee (which is one of my _most_ enjoyable things) because it might be better for me to not drink it... or do I go back to indulging???? Hmmmmm.....

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Coffee good. No coffee intolerable.

I can't imagine a day without lots of coffee. I've never felt so bad as to not have coffee. I've even cut down smoking when I feel poorly. But coffee? Nope. Can't do it.

[NMDemDist2]

17. well the second loaf didn't rise right either

still good bread, but not very tall

guess I'll have to work with the idea

it developed a "skin" in the freezer that kneading didn't seem to help

wonder if i'd tried to add some more moisture to it? it did rise some but only about 1/3 instead of doubling

any suggestions?

[housewolf]

18. Drawing at straws but a couple thoughts....

A) yeast could be old - I think you said you're using active dry yeast, is that right? Do you use packets or bulk? Do you check the expiration date on the packets? How do you store your yeast?

If you have bulk active dry yeast, try "proofing" some and see what happens. Dissolve 1/4 tsp suagrin 1 - 3 tbls of water from the recipe, warmed only to hot-bath temp (up to about 110 F). Sprinkle 1 tsp of yeast on top and stir to dissolve it. Set it in a warm spot (like in a cool oven, turned off but with the light on) for 10 - 20 minutes. As the yeast activates, it will rise to the surface and will have a crown of bubbles. It should be quite bubbly/foamy.

B) possible operator error - is it possible your water was too hot (over about 115 degrees F)?

C) ambient temperature too cold - if the ambient temp was below 65 degrees or so F, it may have been too cool for the yeast to fully activate.

D) possible operator error - I know this is a long stretch, but is it possible you under-measured your yeast?

E) Dough may have been too dry - always go for a dough consistency that is soft and moist, not sticky but slightly tacky. If your dough ball was very solid and hard, it may have been too dry.

You could have, indeed, added some moisture to your dough ball to help dissolve the dry skin it developed in the freezer. You could have just patted some water on it with your hands, or placed a wet paper towel on it and let it sit fir a few minutes. One of my favorite tools in the kitchen (especially for bread baking) is a spray bottle of water. It's so handy for adding tiny bits of water when the dough is a bit dry or re-moistening a part of a loaf that might have gotten dry while rising.

Hope those ideas help a little. I'd definitely test the yeast before baking with it again, if you have bulk active dry yeast. If you use instant yeast and have it in bulk, you might just make up a little sponge and see if it bubbles up as it should. If you can validate that your yeast is good, then there are other factors to consider.

Don't feel too bad - I had a ball of dough the other night that I thought was the most beautiful dough I'd ever made - completely silky and smooth, very well developed, and I thought it was going to be an exceptional loaf of bread. It baked up beautifully and looked gorgeous. But cut into it and lo and behold! there was a little tunnel indicating it was a little under-baked! Was I ever disappointed! It still tastes great and is beautiful except for this hole in each slice....

[NMDemDist2]

19. the load was too dry, the yeast proofed up fine

I use the envelopes and have one more before I go buy new, these are good through Sept 06


actually on the batch before this i had to add some milk to the dough and I think i should have to this dough too

still getting back into the bread thing this winter and having to relearn everything LOL

it still tastes good though so hubby's happy


glad you're feeling better and thanks again for all your expertise

edit to add, last year I learned to sift the flour and this year I've been lazy so i'm getting too much flour in the mix I fear

[housewolf]

21. Weighing flour

One of the first things I learned in bread-making was to weigh flour rather than go by measuring cups. It makes it soooooo much easier to replicate what you did before and get consistent results.

A cup of flour weighs anywhere betwee 4 and 5.5 ounces, depending upon a few different things. If the flour is very dry (a particular issue in dry climates and high elevations, also if the flour has been sitting around for some time), a cup will hold rather more than if the flour is not dry. A cup of flour filled by the "dip and sweep" method will weigh somewhat more than a cup filled by lightly spooning flour into it. And of course, if the flour is sifted the cup will weigh less.

In breadmaking, the proportion of liquid to flour is critical and the only way to achieve an accurate proportion on a consistent basis is to weigh your ingredients (well, ingredient over an ounce, anyway).

I don't know whether a kitchen scale would fit into your lifestyle or not but you might want to consider one. Kitchen digital scales have come down in price and are quite affordable these days. I'd never used a scale in the kitchen prior to when I started learning to bake bread and now I wouldn't have a kitchen without one - I use if everyday for something or other.

At any rate, you don't need to sift your flour for bread but if you fluff it up with a whisk some and lightly spoon it into your measuring cup and do it the same way every time, you'll obtain more consistent results.

[NMDemDist2]

25. thanks housewolf, I do have a scale but i'm not really sure i'd trust

it to be that accurate

the whisk and spoon technique sounds a lot neater than my sifting method, but the sifting method is what "put me over the top" with bread last year, and I didn't do it last week

I'm about to go make a biga right now, I've been running around all day with errands, but need to make some bread in the morning so wish me luck, this is my first attempt at an overnight biga

:bounce:

edit to add: scratch the biga, the store was out of bulk yeast and I refused to spend $2.89 for three little envelopes at the regular market, so since I only have one envelope of yeast there's not enough to do the biga this round :cry:

i'll pick up some bulk yeast next week (any suggestions on what to get?)

[bearfan454]

20. I keep bread in a ziploc bag in the icebox.

It lasts a lot longer.

[cmf]

22. I freeze bread.

I don't know if it works on all types of bread, but I usually make baguettes 3-4 at a time and freeze the extras. Works great.

[NMDemDist2]

23. after you bake them? I freeze store bought bread regularly

but this was a test of trying to freeze my home made dough and the experiment went wrong but because of my dough being too dry

i'll probably try it again this weekend and maybe just freeze the loaf and see how that goes.....

[cmf]

24. Yep, after they're baked.

Then I just defrost a loaf at room temperature when I need it. I have only tried this with small loaves like baguettes or dinner rolls, though.