Question For People Who Make Their Own Bread

How do you store it? It just seems a waste to use a ton of tin foil every time I bake a loaf. I've done that in the past, but in the past I baked bread only on occasion. Now that I've discovered refrigerator slow rise I want to bake it more often but want to keep it from going stale an hour after the first slice is cut off. Would covering just the cut end work? Are there any other tricks I just don't know about

I've been known to upend a loaf with the cut side down on a cutting board, so the board protects the cut edge. In my experience, home baked bread doesn't need to be stored for very long! What kind of bread are you baking

I use plastic bags, like produce bags from the grocery store. If it won't be used up soon enough to stay fresh, you can freeze half of it, in double plastic bag. Or zip-locs. Be sure to squeeze the air out of the bag, esp. if freezing.

I've usually used brown paper bags (the lunch size seems to work) - if it is a big loaf, I use one bag at each end of the loaf, with either tape or a rubber band around the overlap.

I've done the cutting board thing, a fresh loaf usually lasts about half a day. But I am hoping to make it on a regular basis and am hoping that once the novelty wears off it won't be eaten within a few hours and there might be enough to make sandwiches on day two.

So far I found a good recipe for white sandwich bread which is really good. But I am now trying a basic French loaf (flour, yeast, salt, and water) and if that works I might go with that for simplicities sake

I've wrapped the loaf in a tea towel and placed the lot inside a bread basket. There was a stage I considered getting an oldfashioned bread crock but then I stopped baking bread so regularly. Now, cling-film wrapping over the loaf and breadboard seems to work well enough when the loaf has cooled. (In our summer climate mould can set in quickly, nearly as quickly as the loaf will dry out)

Fsomething like this, or one of the roll-up ones.

I add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. You won't taste it and it seems to work, especially if you're making a rye or whole wheat bread.

Anyone want to share an ace recipe?

This is a great one.

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

I made a basic French bread by Richard Bertinet. It is a very wet dough that you "work" instead of knead. I didn't do it right because I ended up with dough mittens. But the end result had a crust that was to die for. You can google it, and the working technique is something that needs to be seen, not read.

I also tried a basic white bread recipe that I found on Google that was really good for sandwich bread, but it was a bit high in sugar (5 tablespoons!). I will try it again with less sugar and if it still produces a good result with less sugar I will print it

Thanks @j_r! I'm going to try that. It's been years since I baked bread, and I've been watching the Great British Baking show with my son, this looks like a great recipe to get back into it and introduce my son to savory baking at the same time.

I've been meaning to post. Reducing the sugar still produced a good sandwich bread. I will post the recipe later when I have more than a few minutes free. Also, I have been covering just the cut end with foil and storing the bread in the microwave and it has been fine. The sandwich loaf does have some fat in it (butter and milk) but foil over the cut end onlyeven worked with the French loaf which is a traditional four ingredient bread of flour, yeast, salt, and water.

I find my homemade bread is best for just 24 hours, so I only bake as much as we can eat in that time. I save the rest of the dough in covered tupperware in the fridge and bake more the next day. I usually make small balls to use as appetizers, so they're quick and easy to form, and bake fast.

Here is the sandwich bread recipe I kept meaning to post. As sandwich bread it has a slightly different texture than traditional 4 ingredient bread, I am guessing from the addition of milk and butter. It is also good for more than a day, unlike basic 4 bread.

Ingredients:

5 Tbsp butter, melted

1 cup warm (not hot) water

1 tsp yeast (or one packet)

1/4 cup milk

5 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour

Melt butter first and then set aside so it isn't screaming hot when you go to use it.

Place the warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Gently mix until there are no lumps of yeast. Let this sit for 5 minutes.

Add the milk, sugar, salt, and butter. Stir to mix.

Add flour 1/2 cup at a time mixing well after each addition until it comes together and starts to come away from the bowl.

Knead for 10 minutes.

Place into a greased bowl and cover, allow to rise until doubled. The time for this will depend on the temperature in your kitchen.

Turn the dough out onto a board and gently flatten and then roll up into a small loaf shape. Place the loaf in a greased loaf tin. Allow to rise, covered. You can do a normal rise at room temp to bake the same day, or put it covered in the fridge for a slow rise to bake in the morning.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. When the bread is done IMMEDIATELY turn it out onto a cooling rack.

Personal note: I did cut down on the amount of sugar and it was still a good loaf of sandwich bread, but the crust was a bit crunchier. I am all for a good crusty bread, but when making sandwiches for kids having a softer crust works better for us because my kids are more likely to eat it.

Thanks Spontaneous!

I've baked two semi-light-rye loaves this weekend.

What I must learn (and remember!) is that if there's butter in the ingredients list, and I melt it just to make it easier to handle, then I should reduce the amount of water I use accordingly.

The first loaf was made using butter at room temperature, and it kneaded nicely. The second loaf had the melted butter and was miles too wet.

The j r recipe is fabulous. My mother makes that.

I take no credit! To me, it tastes a lot like Arturo's crust.