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Storing, Freezing, and Mailing Bread
I find that an artisan-style loaf of bread is best left uncovered cut-side down on a cutting board at least initially. This keeps the crust crispy and the crumb soft for about two days after baking. After the second day, I recommend covering the bread to slow down staling. Covers do soften the crust but a quick toasting will crisp it up again if that’s your preference.
Beyond four or five days, unless the bread has a lot of rye flour, which is slow to stale, I like to slice any leftover bread and freeze it in a sealed plastic bag for later toasting.
The staling that begins to set in around day four means that if I want to mail bread to someone, the slowest option I would select is three-day shipping or priority mail.
These day-by-day guidelines are just estimates and based on my moderately humid mid-Atlantic climate. Your texture preferences could be different and your environment might make your bread mileage vary significantly, but these strategies can be applied to a different timeline.
Beeswax Bag
How to store bread
For the first two days after baking, you can store artisan-style breads uncovered, cut-side down on a cutting board. This keeps the bread close to it’s original texture.
After day two, your bread might start to dry out if uncovered, so you might wrap or cover it in a number of different ways:
Bamboo Bag
Baguettes and other breads that are small or narrow will stale quicker than larger loaves, so I only leave them uncovered on the day they’re baked, and then I jump right into an option from the bulleted list above. Because of the long shape of baguettes, I invert a rectangular baking pan over them rather than a bowl.
Beeswax Wrap
Sandwich loaves and other breads that are meant to have a soft crust get wrapped or covered once they have cooled down completely. Don’t wrap these breads before they cool down because condensation will form on the covering and the bread will get soggy.
Cornish Linen Bag
How to freeze bread
After three or four days stored at room temperature, I like to freeze slices of bread in a zip-top plastic bag. I keep the same bag in the freezer and reuse it for months. To defrost the bread, you can toast the slices a little longer than you do when they start at room temperature, or microwave the frozen slices on a paper towel-lined plate for 10-15 seconds.
To freeze a whole loaf of bread, let it cool completely after baking, then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place it in a plastic bag. It’s best to defrost frozen bread with heat rather than at room temperature according to tests done by Cook’s Illustrated.
Place the unwrapped frozen loaf in the oven at 325°F for 20-30 minutes. Check the internal temperature if you have a probe thermometer. At minimum, you’ll want the inside of the bread to be around room temperature and possibly much warmer.
How to mail bread
Bake the bread early in the morning to leave ample time for it to cool down completely.
Once it’s completely cool, wrap the bread in a paper or cloth bag and then place it in a plastic bag. The paper or cloth layer is to absorb any condensation if there are temperature changes in transit, and the plastic bag is to protect the bread from any exposure to water in transit or if delivered in the rain.
Choose your shipping option and box or bag the bread accordingly, with some crumpled newspaper for padding or bubble wrap.
I like to mail Eric’s Traditional Whole Grain Sourdough bread in a priority mail flat-rate box. This is a Poilâne Bakery-style miche (very large boule) that resists staling and is made from a blend of bread flour and whole grain spelt and rye flours.
Storing, Freezing, and Mailing Bread