The First Thing I Do When I Bring Home Fresh Bread

The fresher your bread, the sooner it will go bad. But there’s a quick and easy way around that. Keep reading for a few easy tips to keep your fresh bread amazing.

Why Fresh Bread

My kids eat a lot of bread. As I started to keep more bread in the house, I looked more closely at the labels. I realized that the store brought “whole wheat” bread I was used to eating actually contains a bunch of sugar and ingredients I cannot pronounce. No wonder it lasts so long on the counter!

I started buying more bread from the in-store bakery (usually near the deli) or the local farmer’s market. And I never looked back.

Fresh unprocessed bread is healthier. It is often also locally made. It also has far fewer ingredients than packaged bread. Bread should really be made of only a few ingredients – flour, water, yeast and salt. Think about it before you buy bread with many more ingredients than this. You want bread that has little to no sugar, unless you are buying a delicious cinnamon swirl raisin bread (which my kids love)

How To Keep It Fresh

The great thing about bringing fresh bread home is that you have fresh bread at home. The downside is that it feels like you turn around and its moldy. The best way to keep a loaf fresh is to freeze it. You can freeze it whole if you plan to eat the entire loaf or in halves. I prefer to slice it with a bread knife as soon as I get home. Leave out what you’ll eat in the next couple days and put the rest in the freezer. Double wrap the bread – either in saran wrap and a bag or two bags. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Remember to freeze it while it’s still fresh.

Enjoying Your Bread

To enjoy, place the frozen bread directly in the toaster or oven. It will be perfectly crisp on the outside and soft in the interior. If you don’t want to toast it, leave it on the counter in a ziplock bag the night before you want to eat it.

My son loves buttered bread with chicken in his lunch. I often take a slice out the night before, place it in a ziplock on the counter. Slather butter on it and he has fresh baked bread for lunch.