Bread Keeping Tips

Many of our customers have asked us how to store our artisan bread. We thought it would be helpful to create a list of tips on how to store your bread at home...even though we suspect some of those French baguettes might not make it through the drive home!

What's with the brown paper bags? You may have noticed that we put our breads in brown paper bags. That's because we work hard to bake a lovely crunchy crust for you, and a paper bag is the best way to let the bread breathe, cool completely and stay crisp. Once you get the bread home, you can take it out of the bag...the crust serves as a natural "wrapper". After cutting into it, store the loaf cut-side-down on a cutting board. Our naturally leavened and prefermented breads will last several days if cared for this way. (P.S. Don't forget to recycle that brown paper bag!)

I want my bread to last longer; should I store it in a plastic bag? If you really want your bread to last a week, and don't mind it getting a bit soft, you can put it in a plastic bag for storage. Bread stored in plastic at a temperature of under 70 degrees should last for about a week before it starts to get moldy. Sourdough breads will last even longer. But any bread stored in a plastic bag will lose its crisp crust pretty quickly.

If cool temperatures are good for bread, should I just put it in the fridge? NO! We don't recommend storing in the refrigerator, the cold air will dry out the bread (even if it's in a plastic bag).

I bought a whole loaf of multigrain, but can't eat it all in one week. What do I do? Don't worry, you have a couple of options! You can freeze the bread in a sturdy plastic bag and it should last for three to four months. When you're ready to eat it, take it out of the plastic bag to defrost it, then pop it into a 300 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes to freshen up the crust. If you don't like to freeze bread, you can always buy a half a loaf of any of the breads we offer at the bakery.

Do you slice bread at the bakery? We now have an automatic bread slicer and can slice bread upon request. We understand it's convenient to have a pre-sliced loaf of bread, especially for sandwiches and toast. Pre-slicing bread can dry out the crumb very quickly, so if you do have us slice it for you, we recommend storing it in a plastic bag for no more than a week. (See above for the downsides of storing bread in plastic).

Our Morgan Hill Multigrain, fresh from the oven.