Do you keep bread in the fridge?

[ccharles000]

I know some people like to put bread in their fridge I myself do not understand it. We keep our bread in a cabinet.

[mike_c]

1. bread gets a terrible texture when refrigerated, IMO....

Just like tomatoes lose their flavor in the refrigerator. Some things are just meant to be eaten fresh, or not at all.

[Orangepeel]

2. not at first, but after a few days

I don't eat it quickly enough before it gets moldy if I keep it out. It gets stale in the fridge, but it still works for toast.

[Captain Hilts]

3. My kitchen gets very hot in the summer, so I do so then. nt

[realisticphish]

4. yes

it helps it last longer; we buy bread when it's on sale

[noamnety]

5. Yes

When I buy bread, it's fresh baked - not the bagged sliced stuff with preservatives. It goes moldy in a day or two - so we keep 2 days worth in the fridge, the rest in the freezer.

I also have my own dough (ain5) in a crock in the fridge at the moment so I can hack off a piece and bake as needed. If I left that out, the rising would be messed up.

[Silver Swan]

6. On my own

I would keep bread in the freezer because I do not consume it fast enough to keep it from getting either moldy or dried out, depending on atmospheric conditions. I do not put bread in the non-freezer part of the refrigerator.

However, my spouse declares that he hates frozen bread. (I do not know why, when bread is thawed, it doesn't taste any different to me..) So we continually buy fresh bread, and discard 2/3 of the loaf before it is finished.

[mnhtnbb]

7. in the summer bread goes in the fridge or else it gets moldy

since we keep the house at 76. In winter, the house is at 68 and we finish the bread before it can go bad
kept on the counter.

[DeepBlueC]

8. No in general, but I do freeze an extra loaf

[kentauros]

9. It depends. Storebought goes in the fridge

because it's just me and it won't keep long enough on the counter.

Homemade bread won't last me more than a couple of days, so there's no fear of it going moldy :D

[Gormy Cuss]

10. If the bread won't be eaten within a few days it's best to refrigerate or freeze part of the loaf.

I prefer freezing when that's the case because the thawed bread is a little bit better than refrigerated IMHO.

[Kali]

11. No! That makes it go stale faster.

If you can't use it up in a day or two, freeze it when it is still fresh and take out what you need.

[kentauros]

13. If it goes stale, though, that's okay.

You can't make bread pudding with fresh bread

[RoyGBiv]

12. Interesting you should ask ...

I hate refrigerated bread.

The problem is that I only go through a loaf of bread about every week and a half. When I lived in Oklahoma and could get fresher bread from a local market, this was no problem. Plus, it was relatively dry.

I moved to Houston and realized, much to my shock and horror one morning as I took a bite out of a sandwich I'd made without bothering to check for mold, that bread here tends not to last very long. I don't know if it's just the humidity and heat or if it's that in combination with the bread I've been getting being too near to going bad in the first place. I've bought bread several places, different brands and everything, and I continue to have this problem.

So, I've given in and started refrigerating.

[kentauros]

15. It is the humidity.

Lived here in Houston all my life and no bread save the most chemical-laden Wonderbread can survive our climate unrefrigerated ;)

You might do better getting a bread-machine and making your own. Cut the fresh loaf in half, freeze one and eat the other. You can also sometimes buy half-loaves at some bakeries. I know I've seen that done at Whole Foods, HEB, and probably Central Market.

[RoyGBiv]

16. Thanks for the input ...

People who've lived here all their lives tend to look at me like I'm from Mars when I express surprise at this. :)

Interesting to note that I did, once, buy a loaf of whatever that cheap crap bread CVS sells because I was in a hurry, and it did last a long time. Of course, I think it was made mostly of wood chips and fertilizer, so it wasn't a good trade-off.

I just may try the bread maker thing. I prefer really fresh bread anyway.

[grace0418]

14. I buy sprouted grain bread with no preservatives, so it goes moldy very quickly if

I don't refrigerate it. Especially in the summer. I usually toast it before I eat it anyway, or else I leave my sandwich at room temp a bit before eating.

[pokerfan]

17. Science to the rescue!

Harold McGee is the author of the book 'Food and Science.' He says the best way to preserve bread runs counter to our expectations.

"It turns out that the staling process, which involves a change in the structure of the starch in the bread dough, happens at a much faster rate at temperatures right around refrigerator temperatures. So in fact, if you want to keep bread edible for a few days, the best thing to do for it is just to keep it at room temperature. It'll actually stale much more slowly at room temperature than it will in the refrigerator, which we normally think of as a place to make things last longer. If you want to keep bread for more than just a few days, the best thing to do is to freeze it, because the temperature of the bread passes through refrigerator temperature pretty quickly on its way to getting completely frozen. And so it spends relatively little time in that critical temperature range and doesn't stale as badly."

And once bread goes stale . . .

"All you have to do is essentially cook the bread again. So thats why we toast bread. Of course you brown the outside and that gives you a nice flavor, but what happens on the inside is that the, the starch is able to reabsorb some of the moisture it lost and it becomes a nice piece of bread again."

http://www.pulseplanet.com/dailyprogram/dailies.php?POP=2714

[Kali]

18. yes

I am SO sending this to my Dad. Drives me up the wall with the bread in the fridge. The man is a PhD, ffs!

[Pool Hall Ace]

19. If it's a fast-moving bread, like Thomas' English Muffins, then no.

Slower-moving breads are put in the fridge for a few days.

[Richardo]

20. No - there are too many bras in there

:grr:

[cwydro]

21. No, it makes it stale faster.

Plus it tastes terrible I think.

[bigwillq]

22. Yes (nt)