Try to store bread in a cool and dry area of your kitchen. If not out on the counter, then in a cabinet or a deep drawer."
*Never keep your bread in the fridge. The starch molecules in bread recrystallize very quickly at cool temperatures, and causes the bread to stale much faster when refrigerated. *Shop-bought loaves should be kept in an air-tight plastic bag at room temperature rather than in the fridge.
Wrapping bread and storing it at room temperature will help it retain moisture for a few days. But what if you can't finish the whole loaf in that amount of time? Freezing is the answer. The takeaway: If you're storing bread longer than a few days, it's best to keep it in the freezer.
The best way to store bread is at room temperature in a dark, dry, cool location such as a pantry, drawer, or bread box. We also recommend keeping our bread sealed in its original packaging, as this will help retain its moisture.
The reason a refrigerator is bad for bread: When bread is stored in a cold (but above freezing) environment, this recrystallization, and therefore staling, happens much faster than at warmer temperatures. Freezing, however, dramatically slows the process down. So that's the science in a nutshell.
Bread might go stale ASAP when it's refrigerated, but freezing it is actually one of the best ways to extend its shelf life. Freezing your bread will prevent mold growth and stop staleness in its tracks.
USE A BREAD BOX
You can keep your fresh loaf in a bread box for a few days. With its dark and dry interior, a bread box helps maintain a decent balance of moisture to keep the inside of the bread soft and its exterior crusty.
Bread should be stored in an air-tight container, but still have some room to breath. Any kind of tin or bread box will work, as long as the lid fits tightly enough to keep air out.
Wrap bread in plastic
Even storing bread in reusable plastic or a glass-sealed container can help it last longer, says Booker. "If you're eating the bread within three or four days, an airtight container on the counter is perfectly fine."
If you tightly wrap your bread in plastic and put it in the refrigerator, you can help slow the staling process. Freezing bread is an option to help prevent it from going stale and developing spoilage microbes.
Keeping bread on the fridge will cause paper-bagged bread to dry out, and plastic-bagged bread to mold faster. This comes from all the heat your fridge is putting out. Same for storing near a dishwasher; the excess heat and moisture these appliances give off is not bread-friendly.
Storage method
To prevent mold, it should be kept sealed at room temperature or colder. Room-temperature bread typically lasts 3–4 days if it's homemade or up to 7 days if it's store-bought. Refrigeration can increase the shelf life of both commercial and homemade bread by 3–5 days.
The reason we put things in the fridge is to preserve them and keep them fresh. By cooling down our food, we deactivate the bacteria that cause spoilage, allowing our food to stay palatable for longer. Unfortunately, bread doesn't only spoil and go mouldy like other foods – it also goes stale.
A simple brown paper bag will keep bread from molding. Many bakeries sell their bread in brown paper for this very reason. This method works really well for hard-crusted, rustic breads and will keep bread fresh for up to two days. Just keep the bag tightly closed and store out of direct sunlight.
One of the best ways to store bread is to keep it in a bread bin. Those with a tight seal will help to keep your loaves fresher for longer. It should be kept in a cool place, but avoid keeping it in the fridge. Bread freezes well whole or in slices.
Whether you're baking bread from scratch or picking up a loaf from your favorite bakery, a quality bread box is an excellent way to keep your bread crust crunchy while leaving the inside soft and chewy. Alternative storing methods simply don't hold up.
As mentioned earlier, bread should be kept in a cool place. However, keeping bread in the fridge can cause it to stale up to six times faster than it normally would when placed on a shelf or counter. This is because refrigeration can hasten the degradation of the starch and moisture loss that could lead to stale bread.
Verdict: A freezer bag is a decent short-term, room-temperature bread storage solution. Storing your bread on the countertop in a plastic bag (or well-sealed plastic wrap) will help keep it from going stale, but be warned: the crust will suffer and grow mold due to trapped moisture.
The Fundamentals of Keeping Bread Fresh
Raffa has baked a lot of bread (like, a lot) and she's learned first-hand that keeping homemade bread fresh comes down to avoiding three things: heat, moisture, and air. "This will prevent fresh bread from becoming stale and moldy," she explains.
Bread and buns could be stored in a small clear bin with a tight lid, on a side shelf, on a microwave cart or inside a top or bottom cabinet. You could easily add air holes if you wish. In some climates, a safe and pest-free storage is often inside the refrigerator.
Use a bread box.
By placing loaves in a bread box, you can stop them from getting too dry too fast. Bread boxes are a halfway point between tightly wrapping bread and leaving them out in the open at room temperature. They're a semi-sealed-off, dry place to keep bread fresh, but they do allow in some air.
Because paper lets air into the bag, keeping the bread dry and the crust crisp and delicious. If you store bread in a plastic bag, the moisture from the bread gets trapped in the bag making the crust soft. Storing in plastic will keep the bread fresh longer, but you'll lose the crust.
Stainless Steel
The most durable material for a bread box. It has a sleek, modern look and is also great for humid environments since it keeps out excess moisture.
A breadbox (chiefly American) or a bread bin (chiefly British) is a container for storing bread and other baked goods to keep them fresh. They were a more common household kitchen item until bread started being made commercially with food preservatives and wrapped in plastic.
But, unlike the bag, a box also is breathable, allowing some of that moisture to escape instead of softening the bread's exterior. In short, the box creates the perfect humid environment to keep your bread at its peak for three or four days.