Properly Storing Your Whole Wheat Bread
Hi Friend,
Have you ever wondered why your bread from freshly-milled flour seems to never last as a long as breads made from all-purpose?
The wheat berry has three parts: the endosperm, the bran, and the germ. All-purpose flour purchased from the store only contains the endosperm which is made up of mostly protein and starch. The bran is mostly trace minerals, B-vitamins, and fiber. The germ is made up of a natural oil. That oil is what causes freshly-milled baked goods to spoil rapidly (that and homemade bread is free of preservatives).
Now before the germ gets a bad rap, it is actually full of essential fatty acids, vitamin E, antioxidants, minerals, B-vitamins, and phytonutrients. In other words, you really, really want the germ present in your baked goods.
The trick is learning to store your whole wheat bread made from freshly-milled flour.
Storing Whole Wheat Bread
Whether you are baking bread for lunches or baking ahead to freeze, storing whole wheat bread is straightforward.
Before Storing or Freezing:
Remove the loaf of bread immediately from its pan onto a wire rack to cool thoroughly. This will keep your crust from getting soggy.
Slice the bread into individual slices. Believe me, you want to do this now! It will be more convenient for you and your family. You can also break off frozen slices and put the loaf back in the freezer if you don’t eat a whole lot of bread.
Storing at Room Temperature
Place loaf in resealable bag or airtight container, then seal tightly (I use bread bags). Store at room temperature away from appliances for up to 7 days.
Freezing
Step 1:
Gently wrap your bread in aluminum foil or plastic.
Step 2:
Gently place bread into a resealable bag and seal tight.
Step 3:
Label bag with the bread type and date and place in freezer. Freeze up to 3 months.
There you go! No more moldy bread. Feel free to bake ahead for those times when life happens and you didn’t get your weekly baking day in.
Best,
The Sieverkropps