
Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? (2019) - ycombinete
https://culinarylore.com/food-science:does-storing-bread-in-the-fridge-make-it-last-longer/
======
mumblemumble
So, there's been a lot of reacting to this article on the level of bread
preservation, and that's definitely some useful life knowledge, but don't miss
the subtext: This article is using a debate about bread as the object of a
lesson in the importance of precise communication. I've seen this argument
happen before. It was once a source of much debate within my extended family.
And, like the article describes, the basis for the acrimony was 100% that the
two different camps were both defining the word "last" in two subtly different
ways, and doggedly refusing to recognize or acknowledge it.

Similar patterns play out elsewhere. For example, open source and copyleft
tend to be using different working definitions of "free." And the distinction
in question is _not_ the one indicated by the F's capitalization.

~~~
zajio1am
> For example, open source and copyleft tend to be using different working
> definitions of "free"

Not really. Both proponents of open source (OSI) and proponents of copyleft
(FSF) use mostly interchangeable definitions of 'free'. Both copyleft (GPL)
and permissive (e.g. BSD licences) are considered free by both sides.

~~~
mumblemumble
The key word there is "mostly." There are details that differ, though, and
that is where the devil creeps in.

It's not necessarily even in disagreeing about what practical things can and
cannot justifiably be called freedoms. It's more in disagreeing about which
ones are important to protect. Which, generally, when people talk about their
freedoms, they're using the term as a shorthand for just the freedoms they
think need protection.

Similarly, I think that both fridge and non-fridge people generally accept
both staling and getting moldy as forms of spoilage. It's just that, either as
a matter of practicality or as a matter of taste, one group is more
preoccupied with staling, either because mold isn't a problem where they live
,or because they are more likely to consider stale bread to be inedible, or
because loaves in their house rarely last long enough to mold, anyway. The
other has different priorities, and will accept staling in return for a longer
time before the bread actually becomes unsafe to eat. But all these subtleties
are lost, taking important subtext in the debate with them, if you focus on
the broad strokes definition of the word "last" instead of really paying
attention to the details.

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egypturnash
I live in a hot, humid, tropical city. If you leave bread out it _will_ become
a mold colony once you've opened the bag.

Fresh, room-temperature bread is a luxury only available for sandwiches made
immediately after opening the bag. Bread lives in the fridge after that.

If you want to revivify your bread when it comes out of the fridge, sprinkle a
little water on the underside and put it in the oven on a low temperature for
10-15 minutes. You will have nice warm slightly-toasted bread, and the water
will have spread through it and helped it be more welcoming to the tooth.

~~~
washadjeffmad
You've caught an important detail- that it molds once you've opened the bag-
but only if you leave it there in after.

Bread boxes are one of those relics that faded into obscurity after the mid-
century in the US, often becoming homes to all the other things you didn't
know what to do with on your counters, but they used to serve an important
role in keeping bread fresh and protected.

When we switched from formed dough breads to inexpensive batter loaves (the
ostensible wonder of "Wonder Bread" was that it didn't have any air pockets...
because it was poured into the molds), the lack of hearty crust and reliance
on high moisture meant its quality quickly degraded in the open air, making it
poorly suited to the former storage. However, if you bake a traditional
American sandwich loaf, the best way to keep its texture and preserve it is to
leave it only lightly covered so moisture doesn't accumulate and invite mold
or make the crust lose its crispness.

So, if you want your bread to last (if indeed it is bread), don't stick it
back in the bag to turn into a terrarium. Let it breathe and dehumidify some,
and it will last until it dries completely. Better a little dry than moldy,
right?

~~~
marton78
Being an obviously little short sighted European, it blows my mind that 1)
bread boxes are not used everywhere and 2) it's not common knowledge that
bread will get moldy when stored in a plastic bag. Happens even in temperate
climate.

~~~
Scoundreller
Also depends on your bread. Supermarket bread likely has mold inhibitors in it
that probably aren't used in bakery breads intended for quick consumption. Or
as my EU relatives do: clear out their stock and freeze a couple week's at a
time.

[https://www.google.com/search?q=mold+inhibitors+in+bread](https://www.google.com/search?q=mold+inhibitors+in+bread)

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crazygringo
The article's facts are right, but its conclusion is kinda wrong.

Don't put your bread in the fridge -- slice it and put it in the freezer!

Because in either case you need to heat it up in the oven/toaster anyways, so
you might as well put it somewhere where it will keep for months, rather than
weeks.

~~~
Falkon1313
My sister froze bread, but it always came out soggy and gross from
condensation. Maybe it was the type of freezers we have in the U.S., but
whenever you thaw things there's going to be condensation and that doesn't
work well with bread.

~~~
a1369209993
Might be a stupid question, but you are heating it all the way to toasting
temperature, right? (Whether or not it stays there long enough to toast.)
Because (at least IME) if you only heat it to room temperature, it definitely
will end up soggy.

~~~
Falkon1313
I did not know that you were supposed to do that. Like anything else from the
freezer, I just let it sit out for awhile to thaw. I had never used freezers
much except for things like ice cream or ice cubes, we always had fresh and/or
canned food.

To this day I don't really know how to make frozen food properly edible, but
today I learned one new thing.

------
Pick-A-Hill2019
Ah the things I learn from clicking random HN links - Sliced bread was once
illegal in the United States!

[https://culinarylore.com/food-history:sliced-bread-was-
once-...](https://culinarylore.com/food-history:sliced-bread-was-once-illegal-
in-the-us/)

~~~
hinkley
TL;DR: banned during rationing in WWII, which is less sensational. Lots of
things got weird during rationing.

~~~
eitland
Around here peeling potatoes b before boiling was illegal during rationing in
WWII.

~~~
hinkley
Maybe we didn't know that then, but that's actually dangerous. As potatoes
start to go 'off' it starts to turn green on the outside, and the green bits
contain alkyloids that are hell on the liver. You have to peel at least past
the green.

------
jnellis
I've been making two loaves a week, sourdough and rye, for over a year now.
After they cool overnight they go in the fridge for a couple hours just to
make slicing them easier, then they get bagged and go in the freezer. This
seems like it maintains 'freshness' the best. The toaster is more or less set
to defrost a frozen slice on the first run and toast it on the second.
Ironically, the starter mix does live in the fridge on a daily basis, never
goes stale and never goes bad.

~~~
mikepurvis
I have three kids and have been baking bread for over a decade— I do 4-5
loaves at once, and it's a mix of white, wheat, sourdough, and regular yeast.
Between toast for breakfast and maybe grilled cheese the next day for lunch,
we can wipe out a loaf in 24 hours, so I don't bother with the individual-
slice freezing thing and just freeze/defrost whole loaves at once. Once
defrosted, it lives in a grocery bag in the fridge so that we get more than a
day or two on the off-chance that it is forgotten about.

For any other home bakers out there, definitely grab a set of the Nordic Ware
pans— they're worth every penny and so much more a joy to use than other thin-
walled ones which rust, peel, and warp.

~~~
lostlogin
Nothing beats grilled cheese on sourdough (assuming that is the same as
“cheese on toast”). Your kids are lucky.

------
prennert
Pro tip: slice and freeze fresh bread and either defrost it over a few hours
or just toast it before consumption.

Refrigerated bread gets soggy fast and is not worth the space it takes in the
fridge.

~~~
Cthulhu_
This is what we do and have done when I grew up; my parents would go to lidl
or aldi and get a loaf of bread per day of the week and yeet it in their big
chest freezer, every day (in the evening) they'd take one out to defrost
overnight. We do it now as well although our freezer isn't that big.

Defrosting it is best done at room temperature, but in a bind can be done in
the microwave; it's a very thin line between defrosting it and warming it up
(making it soggy and warm and ugh) though.

------
gnicholas
I live in Palo Alto and buy sourdough bread from Costco. If I don't put the
loaves in the fridge immediately, they mold. Sometimes it happens in 36 hours,
in an air-conditioned home, in an unopened bag. I don't know if this is
specific to sourdough bread, but it is super frustrating because two Costco-
sized loaves take up quite a bit of space in the fridge!

~~~
SirYandi
That's seems odd to me. I make sourdough at home without using any oil
(article said oil makes bread last longer(?)) and find it goes dry long before
molding occurs, if at all. Usually get a good 3-4 days before it's been hard
to eat.

I keep mine in a cloth sack in the cupboard if it makes any difference.

------
jeffrallen
If your bread lasts longer than it takes you to eat it, your bread is too big,
or it is not yummy enough to make you eat enough. Get yourself to a proper
boulanger and eat proper bread!

~~~
chris_st
Or I'd like to make enough bread that I don't have to make bread again really
soon?

------
barrkel
Since the COVID lockdown in February, we've mostly switched over to part-baked
bread rolls, individually packaged and baked on demand - 3 minutes to heat the
oven, 10 minutes baking, and you've got a fresh warm roll, and most
importantly, it has a crisp crust.

It's a low labour medium between baking your own bread and buying bread almost
every day, which is what I used to do. In fact I used buying bread as an
excuse to get me out of the house when I used to work from home.

~~~
jrochkind1
Interesting, I haven't noticed these sold but I haven't been looking. You buy
at an ordinary grocery store? National brands? In the freezer section?

~~~
barrkel
No, they are part baked, and sealed in a protective atmosphere (nitrogen, I
expect).

Here:

[https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/fitzgeralds-2-sourdou...](https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/fitzgeralds-2-sourdough-
baguettes/845933-673919-673920)

[https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/bread-
and-...](https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/bread-and-
rolls/part-baked-bread)

They last about a month in a pantry, unrefrigerated.

A significant fraction (if not all) supermarket bakery bread is shipped as
frozen part-baked. This is roughly the same thing but in nitrogen rather than
frozen.

~~~
jrochkind1
Interesting! I see you are maybe in UK? I'm not sure this product exists in
ordinary grocery stores in the USA.

------
dusted
Yes. I don't eat bread regularly at home, so some times, it'll be a few weeks
in the fridge, and it's just fine (after a trip in the toaster). Leave that
same bread out and it'll be mouldy within the first week or two. This is
regular french bread bought at the local bakery.

Here in Denmark, we also have black bread, which are more normal to keep in
the fridge, that bread does not seem to go stale the same way as french bread,
but I also know some weirdos who keeps black bread outside the fridge :P

~~~
gravitas
Mold is the real issue for me, i live in a humid area where breads molds in
less than a week if left on the counter. Putting it in the fridge is just a
necessity of life if you want a week or two of sandwiches from a loaf.

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mywittyname
The phenomena described by the author is called retrogradation.

~~~
teddyh
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrogradation_(starch)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrogradation_\(starch\))

------
lukaszkups
Since the COVID-19 situation happens all over the place, I'm doing one big
groceries on Saturday for a whole week (that includes bottle water & sliced
bread).

We freeze sliced bread and defrost it in microwave (so we defrost only slices
we're gonna eat). It takes some time to calculate proper amount of time
(depends on microwave power level) as if you heat it too long the crust of
bread become stiff & no really tasty at all - but we figured that out and our
defrozen bread tastes _almost_ like freshly baked one.

In the end, it totally works for us, as if we would store unfrozen bread it
would become dried up in a matter of 2-3 days.

~~~
tootie
Sliced frozen bread can actually go straight in the toaster if you give it a
little extra time. If you want to eat it soft, it will defrost on the counter
in maybe 30 minutes. My favorite is to freeze whole baguette. You can rub the
exterior with water, wrap it in a cloth then bake for 8-10 min and it will
come out like it's fresh baked.

------
LargoLasskhyfv
This is all too much hassle for me, for several reasons.

I avoid that by eating _knäckebröd_ / crispbread instead.

Several observations in hindsight:

I don't have hard evidence, but feel that bread lasted longer up until maybe
1990 to 2000. Afterwards it spiraled downwards.

The whole supply chain changed. What today would count as
"artisanal/handmade/organic/bio" mostly was the old normal, up until that time
frame. (At least where I live, in Germany.)

I remember from my childhood (I am 51 now) that even then there was a
difference in longevity between industrial supermarket bread, which wasn't
that common then, and bread from the bakery. My mother tried that supermarket
stuff several times for financial reasons, and came to the conclusion it
wasn't worth it because of the waste, which the bread from the bakery didn't
cause. She even tried that freezing stuff, and toasting it in a pan, so that
was common knowledge then, too. Didn't really matter. Bakery bread lasted
maybe 3 to 4 days in a bread box. Supermarket bread got stale after a few
hours(bought in the morning, bad in the evening, mold after 2 days at the
latest. Bakery bread didn't.

Nowadays I have a factory outlet of an industrial bakery and two artisanal
bakeries in walking/bicycling distance, so I can get that industrial stuff
almost fresh from the conveyor belt, thereby eliminating any vagaries
regarding transport.

It tastes and feels ok, but makes my nose run, sometimes even sneeze and
phlegma in my upper throat. This happens with almost anything which I tried
from supermarkets, too.

It doesn't happen with the artisanal/organic stuff from the bakeries, but I
don't eat that much bread, living single, so it is either a waste, or hassle
with freezing and toasting.

Btw. no problems/allergies with Gluten, or anything else, for that matter.

It doesn't happen with _knäckebröd_ , which also doesn't get stale or moldy
that fast, so I mostly eat that.

Got up at 3:01AM, made my green tea, and had 2 slices of Wasa Sesam dipped in
that. All good, no sniffing and sneezing.

Anyways, don't eat that industrial stuff if you can avoid it. It is a chemical
cocktail of additives nobody really knows the longterm interactions with your
body, hidden behind cunning white labelling!

------
Angostura
I keep the bread in its bag in the fridge - it doesn't go off and it doesn't
go stale as long as the bag is securely closed.

------
andimm
My trick, is to keep the bread in the oven. It's almost air tight and I have
the feeling that a bread stays fresh a couple of days longer than by any other
method. Normally my oven is empty so I have some room there for free. And when
I use the oven to heat i.e. a pizza I hope any fungi are killed.

------
Dalrymple
Could someone explain why the thin flatbread known as the tortilla seems to
last much longer in a sealed bag? Ordinary bread molds on me in 4-5 days. I
have kept a bag of tortillas around for a couple weeks without any mold. They
do get stale if one forgets to seal the zip-type bag.

~~~
vb6sp6
The tortillas likely have have chemical leaving and extra preservatives. Make
tortillas from scratch and they will also mold in a few days.

------
DrBazza
It depends. A chilled fridge is also a dehumidifier, so if the bread isn't
stored in a tightly sealed bag, it may dry out and go stale in the fridge,
before you can eat it. If you eat bread quickly enough, then that's not a
problem.

~~~
tombert
The article addresses this; stale bread is still edible, and for the most part
can be brought back by applying some heat. Moldy bread is just bad, and must
be thrown away.

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supernova87a
Does steaming stale bread (and then maybe toasting it again) bring it back to
close to the desired state? Can that re-inject the moisture? Anyone tried? or
is "staling" a non-reversible (at least to the tongue) process?

------
jedberg
> A French baguette is not likely to ever mold

I have many points of data that this claim is false. :)

Our local store often has a sale on French baguettes, so when I'm there I pick
up two. We almost never get through them both before one molds.

------
lobo_tuerto
I've seen people store bread not in the fridge but in the freezer (this was in
Germany), I thought it was weird, but I think now that it's a cool way to
store bread for long periods of time.

------
m3kw9
Toasting bread from fridge has little difference than fresh unless you are
talking artasinal breads meant to eat fresh. Otherwise freeze it and toast it,
it will get 90% of the way there

------
eitland
During boot camp I remember the kitchen staff storing bread in the fridge
because then soldiers would eat less bread.

Of course some soldiers just ate more jam, ham and smoked salmon instead.

------
lefrancais
my technique for baguette conservation : in the freezer You can store it for
weeks up to a month I think. After that, simply in a oven, 120° celsius for
12-16 minutes

------
implements
Just as an aside, your can freeze milk too - though it has to be in a strong
container that doesn’t allow too much expansion or the fat will separate on
defrosting.

------
peterwwillis
I actually had a bread box at one point, and the bread got moldy after two
days. Maybe it just needed to be cleaned, or maybe it trapped moisture and
heat?

~~~
chris_st
Two days is kind of surprising, if it was homemade. Ours would go four or five
days before molding, so like everyone above, I cut mine the day after baking
and freeze it.

------
edem
I don't know but putting it in the freezer works. We usually buy bread every 2
weeks and put 2/3 of it into the freezer right off the bat.

------
m0zg
We only store bread in a freezer, and use toaster to warm it up and toast it
for consumption. This only really works with pre-sliced bread and serves 2
important functions:

1\. Reduce the amount of bread we eat. You take out a slice and that's all
you're going to eat, since it takes 2 minutes or so to toast it in the
toaster.

2\. Prevent bread from going moldy/dry/stale. You can enjoy a single loaf for
a week this way.

------
the-dude
How about not slicing it. Although my bread dries out towards the end ( 6
days? ), it does not mold.

------
clairity
i found that putting store-bought donuts in the fridge makes them last long
enough (a week) to eat before going stale. and as a bonus, the hardened glaze
is both easier on the fingers (and clothes) and enhances the sweetness. mmmmm,
donuts!

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semerda
This article bugged me. It spoke about the fridge as a preservation tool but
failed to point to the freezer. The very important part of a fridge! We all
know that the freezer plays a big role in preserving all our produce. I cut
and freeze all the bread I buy and bake and when I defrost it, it’s top notch!

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bluedino
Refrigerated bread gets damp spots in it that ruin the texture for me. Bleh.

------
jimnotgym
Does Storing Bread in the Fridge Make it Last Longer?

Not with a family of 5 to feed!

------
1vuio0pswjnm7
Does anyone here have any experience with solar-powered toasters?

------
TheRealPomax
tl;dr:

"Does storing bread in the fridge make it last longer? Yes."

But not mentioned is that it lasts even longer if you stick it in the freezer
until you need it, because plain bread freezes and defrosts just fine.

------
easton_s
yes.

------
oger
tl;dr: it depends.

------
imotroubairitz
Private chef here -

Industrially produced bread: freeze (sliced) and toast when needed or eat
fresh. Never fridge. Home baked: eat fresh use the leftovers for puddings, or
blend and freeze and use as breadcrumbs for cooking.

[https://gailsbread.co.uk/](https://gailsbread.co.uk/) Gail's bakery is the
only place I know in the UK that can mass produce excellent bread. Their book
is excellent.

Of course there are many excellent artisan producers everywhere too...

------
rawdeal
"yeet"?! What is "yeet"?

~~~
teddyh
“To discard an item at a high velocity”

—
[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yeet](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yeet)

------
aazaa
> ... Most of them are failing miserably. Not because the statements they are
> making are wrong, but because they fall prey to a common critical thinking
> mistake: failing to define our terms. ...

Article then goes on to cogitate for 1,500 words while introducing no data or
experiment. Do an experiment or go home.

