You Should NEVER Store Your Bread Like This!
Does putting bread in the refrigerator ruin it?
How does your family store bread? On the counter, in the fridge, or tucked away at the bottom of the freezer?
When it comes to keeping bread fresh, not all methods are equal... And refrigeration is the worst. Let's take a look at why.
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Bread goes stale for two reasons: moisture loss, and starch recrystalization.
Bread is made from 3 main ingredients: wheat flour, water and yeast. Wheat flour is made up of starch granules, which take on a crystalline form in their natural state. The process of mixing dough and baking bread breaks down that crystalline structure, making the resulting bread soft and chewy. As the bread cools and ages, those starch crystals reorganize into their original crystalline shape (making the bread hard again).
Storing your bread in a cold refrigerator accelerates the process of crystalization, making your bread hard and stale faster.
Interestingly, storing your bread in the freezer slows this process down — and when it's reheated in the oven, the bread returns to near-original freshness!
What To Do
Our advice? Try to eat the whole loaf in 1-2 days, while it's still fresh... That way you won't have to mess around with long-term storage. And if you do find yourself with stale bread, don't throw it out! Here are 17 awesome ways you can re-use it.
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