Bread bins - do they work?

[DieselGriff]

Having recently purchased a bread maker we are, as we become more competent, enjoying the bread but have noticed the distinct lack of shelf life.

Now it used to be common to keep bread in bread bins I presume to keep them preserved in a time of a lack of chemical preservatives and we are only looking to preserve for a couple of days or three as we have small loaves.

Any good or forget it?

[Pesty]

forget it, make a new one every day

ps look for some 'spelt' floor big tescos sell it. makes awsome bread

[mattdaniels]

The temperature the bread is stored at is more important. We have a bread bin, but when he kitchen is hot the bread goes off very quickly.

[motco]

I keep a wholemeal loaf from or breakmaker by cooling it to room temperature and bagging it in a polythene bag from the vegetable section of the local tesco or Sainsbury. Don't cut any more than you need for the occasion, and the remainder is usable for a couple of days. White bread might not last quite as well, I suppose, but the oil or fat in it (butter) helps keep it apparently.

[redtwin]

Work great for keeping the kitchen counter tidy.

Slice leftover loaf and freeze the slices individually in re-usable/seal-able freezer bags.

I suspect you may have your priorities all wrong though. I have yet to see a breadmaker sized loaf that I couldn't finish in one go.

Edited by redtwin on Saturday 18th December 17:51

[calibrax]

motco said:

I keep a wholemeal loaf from or breakmaker by cooling it to room temperature and bagging it in a polythene bag from the vegetable section of the local tesco or Sainsbury. Don't cut any more than you need for the occasion, and the remainder is usable for a couple of days. White bread might not last quite as well, I suppose, but the oil or fat in it (butter) helps keep it apparently.

A polythene bag is bad, as it encourages mould growth by trapping moisture. A brown paper bag will keep bread fresh MUCH longer.

[grumbledoak]

I doubt they are as effective as the fridge.

NB. What keeps supermarket bread 'fresh' for so long is normally salt.

[F i F]

Supermarket bread, as mentioned above< has specific additives which enhance shelf life, home made bread doesn't have these, or in the case of salt, less of it.

When we bake loaves we put them in those perforated plastic bags that the supermarkets use, thus the steam can escape and the bread does not go soggy.

But also as said above, decent home made bread doesn't last long, though we make baps, oven bottom cakes and tea cakes that freeze well. Bad for waist line too.

[jas xjr]

grumbledoak said:

I doubt they are as effective as the fridge.

NB. What keeps supermarket bread 'fresh' for so long is normally salt.

And sugar

[jagracer]

DieselGriff said:

Now it used to be common to keep bread in bread bins I presume to keep them preserved in a time of a lack of chemical preservatives and we are only looking to preserve for a couple of days or three as we have small loaves.

Any good or forget it?

If you don't use a bread bin at the moment where do you keep opened or uncut loaves?

[F i F]

jas xjr said:

grumbledoak said:

I doubt they are as effective as the fridge.

NB. What keeps supermarket bread 'fresh' for so long is normally salt.

And sugar

Actually let's be technically correct about this rather than people just guessing about what goes into bread.

The bread industry add a lot more than just salt and sugar to improve shelf life.

Vinegar and calcium proprionate.

also for more information on additives Federation master bakers fact sheet on bread additives

We put none of this stuff into our bread and try to source flours that are as additive free as we can get. Thus the bread has short shelf life, plus it can be tricky to get it to work right, but the benefit is in the taste.

In my personal opinion.

[motco]

calibrax said:

motco said:

I keep a wholemeal loaf from or breakmaker by cooling it to room temperature and bagging it in a polythene bag from the vegetable section of the local tesco or Sainsbury. Don't cut any more than you need for the occasion, and the remainder is usable for a couple of days. White bread might not last quite as well, I suppose, but the oil or fat in it (butter) helps keep it apparently.

A polythene bag is bad, as it encourages mould growth by trapping moisture. A brown paper bag will keep bread fresh MUCH longer.

The Panasonic instructions tell you to cool the loaf to room temperature and wrap it in foil or store it in a plastic bag. They also say use it as soon as possible unless you need to keep it longer - then you freeze it.

[littlegreenfairy]

I thought that the idea of a bread bin was just to contain the crumbs....

[DieselGriff]

jagracer said:

DieselGriff said:

Now it used to be common to keep bread in bread bins I presume to keep them preserved in a time of a lack of chemical preservatives and we are only looking to preserve for a couple of days or three as we have small loaves.

Any good or forget it?

If you don't use a bread bin at the moment where do you keep opened or uncut loaves?

TBH we've only bought sliced supermarket bread up until now (Tesco premium stone ground wholemeal I like a lot and it's pretty high in fibre) this sits happily in it's bag in a cupboard until used up - very rarely do we have dried slices.

The loaves our maker produces are small it's true but there's a couple of days worth there but the loaf we made yesterday had already started to go dry this morning.

Thanks for the responses, there's a few things we can try.

[jagracer]

DieselGriff said:

jagracer said:

DieselGriff said:

Now it used to be common to keep bread in bread bins I presume to keep them preserved in a time of a lack of chemical preservatives and we are only looking to preserve for a couple of days or three as we have small loaves.

Any good or forget it?

If you don't use a bread bin at the moment where do you keep opened or uncut loaves?

TBH we've only bought sliced supermarket bread up until now (Tesco premium stone ground wholemeal I like a lot and it's pretty high in fibre) this sits happily in it's bag in a cupboard until used up - very rarely do we have dried slices.

The loaves our maker produces are small it's true but there's a couple of days worth there but the loaf we made yesterday had already started to go dry this morning.

Thanks for the responses, there's a few things we can try.

We've always used a bread bin so I wouldn't know any different. My wife has a bread maker and fresh bread does tend to keep a fair while in the bin. Although we tend to eat the home made bread very quickly, it can last for anything up to 3 or 4 days once cut.

[Simpo Two]

Think what makes bread deteriorate:

1) Dehydration
2) Fungal attack

A (close-fitting) bread bin like the above will help retain moisture and limit the number of fungal spores, but will not prevent those already inside from developing. If your bread bin is enormous, nt only does it look ugly and enormous on your worktop, but there is a big volume of air around the loaf for water to evaporate into and be lost.

I keep bread wrapped in its original polybag in the fridge. This contains the loaf as closely as possible to conserve water, and the lower temperature slows the onset of fungal growth. Short of adding preservative, I think that's all you can do.

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 21st December 10:05

[condor]

I usually add a dollop of olive oil to my bread mix (as this supposedly makes it last longer) and it seems to last about 3 days. I keep it in a cool larder just wrapped in a plastic carrier bag.
The longest lasting loaf I've made was potato bread - which makes very good toast

[jimmydlrose]

We invented a bread bin with a built-in cooling system that plugs into normal plugs as well as an extra fitting for car lighters plug for an amazing price. Bread stays cool and fresh for at least a week.

[FredericRobinson]

How cool? Refrigerated bread stales quicker than bread stored at room temp

[motco]

condor said:

I usually add a dollop of olive oil to my bread mix (as this supposedly makes it last longer) and it seems to last about 3 days. I keep it in a cool larder just wrapped in a plastic carrier bag.
The longest lasting loaf I've made was potato bread - which makes very good toast

The recipe from the Panasonic booklet calls for 25g of butter to be added but as a member of my family is non-dairy I have always used 30g of olive oil instead. The bread (wholemeal), if uneaten obviously, will still be acceptable after three days in a poly-bag.