Kitchen Hack: Storing Bread

As a regular cook and more-than-regular eater, I'm usually plenty good at eating food before it spoils. However, there's one item I was never able to finish before mold reared its green or white head - err, spores: bread.

Of course, fresh bread is the best bread. But, unfortunately, as someone who lives alone and doesn't multiple sandwiches a day, having a brand new loaf each day is not a viable option. For a long time, I kept bread in the fridge, which dried it out and made me swear off putting bread anywhere near the refrigerator ever again. 

Next, I started to ask the baker to give me half a loaf when I bought bread, thinking I'd be more likely to finish it before the lil guys showed up. This didn't work either. (However, if you're like me and you live alone or don't eat a lot of bread, I highly recommend checking to see if your grocery lets you do a half loaf and then just get bread more often to really ensure you're maximizing freshness and wasting as little as possible.)

When this didn't work, my mom recommended putting the bread in the freezer and defrosting as needed. Sure enough, this kept the bread mold free. But since I tended to make or buy loafs, I'd have to precariously saw off bread icicles whenever I wanted some toast for breakfast, unless I woke up at 5 AM and took it out of the freezer. And if I did pre-slice the bread, I had to use a knife to pry the slices apart and thus risk sacrificing breakfast anyway for a trip to the emergency room. 


Finally, I found a solution that spares fingers and allows one to easily remove slices while keeping the rest of the loaf frozen. And it's easy as 1-2-3.


What you'll need:

bread
wax paper
scissors
two gallon plastic baggies (not pictured)

1. If it's not sliced already, slice your bread. Lots of grocery stores either do this for you or have a fun little machine you can use. No, seriously, it's fun.




2. Cut wax paper and place sheets between slices. I rip off a piece then cut the piece into smaller sheets for between the slices, but you could just wrap them around.




3. Carefully slip the loaf into one baggie then the next baggie so as not to let the papers slip. I do this by placing the loaf on a small cutting board, slipping the board and loaf into the bag, and then pulling the board out.




Voilà! Stick that bad boy in the freezer. As needed, pull out a slice and let it defrost or stick it in the toaster. And woo! Just like that - no more wasted carbs!

Enjoy!

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