Eating a piece of sourdough bread with roasted chicken can make you forget all your sorrows and worries. However, the richest flavor of sourdough bread can be experienced only if the bread is fresh. But if you know how to store sourdough bread properly, you can prolong this experience.
Sourdough bread getting stale or developing mold is a common worry and people struggle to keep it fresh for more than a few hours. What if I told you that I have a bag of tricks that will allow you to keep the sourdough bread fresh for longer?
Let’s get into it...
What Goes into Sourdough Bread?
Flour, water, and salt combine to produce a savory, chewy, and luscious sourdough bread. It can upgrade an average meal to an extravagant one. There are two types of bread, leavened and unleavened. Sourdough is of the former type.
Leavened bread uses wild yeast instead of the commercial one. Wild yeast is more flavorful and adds a texture of chewiness to the bread.
Mouth-Watering Meals with Sourdough Bread
Some of the delicious meals that advocate the delicacy of sourdough bread include but aren’t limited to:
- Sizzling steak or steamed fish
- Saucy pasta covered in spices
- Boiled rice
- Sandwiches
- Toast
The list shows how versatile sourdough is as a food item. You can use it as an appetizer or as the main meal.
Sourdough bread lasts longer than other types of bread. The primary reasons include two constituents – lactic acid and acetic acid. The former enhances the anti-fungal energy of the bread, while the latter inhibits molds formations.
There is a certain period until which the sourdough bread is considered fresh. There is a significant difference between considering bread fresh and considering it to be edible before it goes bad.
Sourdough Bread’s Freshness Vs. Time
Time | Level of Freshness |
24 hours after opening
| Best time to eat. The bread is still crisp on the outside, while soft like cotton on the inside. Also, it still has the refreshing aroma of the bakery oven.
|
2-3 days after opening
| Intermediate stage. The “chewy” trait is enhanced, and the bread may be a little hard on the inside. It is still good to consume and may taste a little more sour.
|
3-5 days after opening
| Better to get freshly baked sourdough bread. Toasting the bread or reheating it would make it edible. The bread will be dry, and the interior will be rugged. Not easy to eat and definitely not very enjoyable.
|
5-7+ days after opening | Just get rid of it. It isn’t edible anymore. It may be edible if preservatives were added or via reheating, but the chances are low. You should check the bread in this situation.
|
How to Check if the Sourdough Bread Has Gone Bad
A loaf of sourdough bread can go bad in two ways:
- Mold Formation
Mold spores form on the bread. You can visibly see the mold formations on the bread. Mold spores usually look like typical fuzzes of white cotton.
Read more about mold here.
- Stale
The bread loses its texture, aroma, and softness. It becomes hard. If the mold is visible, it is best not to smell or taste the bread. If the mold isn’t visible, you can check for staleness.
So, this is where you open your cabinet, only to discover that your sweet sourdough bread is rotten. You don’t need to be disappointed as we will teach you how to store sourdough bread to use later.
Here’s more information about identifying sourdough bread that has gone bad.
Easy Ways to Store Sourdough Bread
Sourdough bread isn’t something that can wait on the counter for weeks for you to eat it. It is meant to be cut and consumed daily. A loaf of good sourdough bread may last a week, tops.
We often choose to struggle for the things we love. If you love sourdough bread, here is how you can keep it fresh:
- A Brown Bag
It would be best if you had a brown bag for this task. Yes, we know what you are thinking. Why not aluminum foil or plastic wrap?
Both will allow moisture to get inside and cause the bread to become stale eventually due to humidity. The brown bag allows the bread to catch some air but won’t allow it to get stale as quickly.
A brown bag with a size big enough to wrap around the sourdough bread once is good enough for this task.
- The Microwave Effect
As you know, the microwave has a vacuum and doesn’t let moisture or air get inside. Your sourdough bread will remain safe from the mold inside the microwave unless you have to take it out every minute to use the microwave.
- Freeze it to Save it
All you have to do is cool the bread loaf until it becomes totally dry. Wrap aluminum foil or a plastic wrap over the bread before putting it in the freezer. That’s it!
This technique will keep the sourdough bread fresh for at least three months! When you crave sourdough bread, defrost it before heating it in your microwave to enjoy a luscious meal instead of being in a tragic situation with your molded bread.
Chef Gail Sokol explains the process in this video.
- Advanced Freezing
Wrapping a whole loaf in aluminum and plastic to store it is excellent. The only complexity is that if you want a slice, you will have to defrost the whole loaf and then take a portion off it. A bit hectic, right? Here is the solution.
Take bread, cut it in slices, and then freeze it until it is dry like a desert in peak summer. Cover each slice in plastic and aluminum wrapping. The advantage is that you can take out only what you want instead of the whole loaf.
This method is ideal to store sourdough bread and can make it last for approximately six months!
- Temporary Preservation
You might face a situation where you desperately want to eat a slice of sourdough bread, but there are others who would consume it later.
No need to worry; this technique will allow you to keep the bread fresh and away from molding or getting stale after you slice out your part. Just store the bread at room temperature, unwrapped. It will remain fresh for 24 hours.
Make sure to consume it within 24 hours. If not possible, go for the techniques mentioned above.
Unique Method Store Sourdough Bread Naturally
A unique method to store sourdough bread is by using a beeswax wrap.
The steps involved are pretty simple. You need a suitable wrap size according to the size of your slices or a loaf.
Once you have selected a suitable beeswax wrap, cool the loaf of bread before wrapping it in the beeswax wrap. The ingredients of beeswax wrap can help you store the bread for a long duration.
No seal is required; the heat of your hands is enough to make an airtight fence around the loaf and prevent it from getting stale or molding.
Bonus Sourdough Bread Recipe: Eat Your Bread Before It Goes Bad!
If your sourdough bread is on the verge of going bad, here is a sourdough bread recipe to enjoy the carbs of the sourdough bread before it becomes inedible.
Sourdough French Toast
Ingredients:
- A quarter cup of flour
- A cup of milk
- Salt to taste
- Three eggs
- Half spoon of cinnamon
- A vanilla teaspoon
- Sugar to taste (usually a spoon)
- Slices of sourdough bread (8-10)
Instructions:
- Pour the flour into a bowl and whisk it while adding milk. Add all the ingredients except the slices of bread and keep whisking until a smooth mixture is obtained. Take a pan and heat it on a medium flame. Put some oil in it.
- Dip the slices of sourdough bread into the mixture thoroughly before adding them to the frying pan. Cook the bread until the desired brown texture is obtained. And BOOM!
- Your sourdough bread that was about to go bad is converted into a delicious recipe in 20 minutes or so.
- Need a book with all the crunchy sourdough bread recipes in one place? Click here to subscribe to the book and get access to amazing recipes.
FAQ
It doesn’t contain baker’s commercial yeast. It uses a flour and water mixture as a catalyst.
Yes, it is suitable for weight loss due to beneficial bacteria.
Sourdough bread may harm people with certain medical conditions.
If you want to store the bread for longer, freezing and using beeswax is the way to go.
Final Thoughts
Sourdough bread is a scrumptious meal. To save you from the disaster of sourdough bread that’s gone bad, we have discussed the best ways to preserve the bread for a longer time. Make sure to dry the bread thoroughly before freezing it to conserve it for a longer time.
Beeswax wrap is a unique but effective technique to store sourdough bread. The methods mentioned preserving the freshness and taste of the sourdough bread.
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