Once it's completely cool, wrap the bread in a paper or cloth bag and then place it in a plastic bag. The paper or cloth layer is to absorb any condensation if there are temperature changes in transit, and the plastic bag is to protect the bread from any exposure to water in transit or if delivered in the rain.
For most loaves there's a simple answer: Put a lid on it.
Slicing into a hot loaf of bread can cause bread to tear instead of slicing cleanly through, or it can be gummy on the inside . To cool your loaves properly you need to transfer your loaves from the oven to a wire cooling rack, and let them rest until they have cooled to about body temperature.
You should let it cool all the way. Until the center is room temperature. This will take two hours at minimum (for a loaf, it's less for rolls or baguettes), and up to four or five hours.
Covering bread while it's rising isn't strictly necessary, but it can help prevent it from drying out and forming a crust prematurely. If you don't cover the dough while it's rising, it might develop a dry crust on the surface, which can inhibit its ability to rise properly.
If you want light, fluffy bread, the dough should rise until it is puffy. The more gas incorporated in the dough, the lighter it will be. If you see a blister or two in the surface, pop them with a toothpick and hurry the bread to the oven. If you let the bread continue to rise, it will collapse.
Can Fresh Baked Bread Be Left Out Overnight? You can leave out most fresh baked bread at room temperature for a couple of days with minimal risk of mold growth or staling.
USE RIGHT TEMPERATURE
Bake the bread at high temperature, around 260/270°C, for the first 15 minutes of the baking process so that the crust and its beautiful golden color start developing quickly on the surface. Then lower the temperature to 150°C and continue the baking process for 15-20 minutes.
First and foremost, it's always best to let fresh bread rest until it's cool and fully set before slicing. I know, fresh-from-the-oven is hard to resist, but your bread will not only taste better it will keep longer if you wait to cut it for at least an hour—I prefer two or more.
Before it is properly cooled, the bread hasn't set and is still pretty soft. “It may be challenging to slice enriched breads like babka and brioche when they're still warm,” Pixley notes. Once the bread has cooled, you'll get much cleaner slices and will avoid squishing or tearing the loaf.
Ensure the bread is completely cooled before wrapping it in plastic wrap.
Another method to help prevent burning your bread dough in a Dutch oven is to remove it once the crust has set, about 30 minutes into baking. This means the dough has baked for 20 minutes with the lid on (and with steam), then uncovered and baked for another 10 minutes.
If the rolls or bread are browning too quickly, cover them with foil (shiny side up). Rolls or bread aren't browning evenly?
How To Store Banana Bread at Room Temperature. If you're planning to eat your banana bread within three to four days, it can be left out on a counter or table overnight at room temperature. (Although some recipes with add-ins, like cream cheese banana bread, shouldn't be left out.) After that, the bread starts to stale ...
Fortunately, one of the most glaring baking problems has an easy solution: ensuring your bread stays moist. The key is twofold: use quality ingredients and let the dough stand overnight. If you're using storebought flour, opt for “bread flour,” which will hold better in heat and help create a more tender crumb.
Dense or heavy bread can be the result of not kneading the dough mix properly –out of many reasons out there. Some of the other potential reasons could be mixing the yeast & salt together or losing your patience while baking or even not creating enough tension in the finished loaf before baking the bread.
What to look for in an over proofed loaf. Similar to the signs of over proofed dough, an over proofed loaf will be very flat, without much rise or retention of shaping. Over proofing destroys the structural integrity of the bread, so loaves that have gone over are unable to hold their shape in the oven.
Bread storage takeaways
For best moisture retention, slice bread from the center out, rather than from one end. Store airtight with the two cut halves facing each other and pressed together. Wrapping bread to retain moisture keeps it soft, though it robs crusty artisan bread of its crispy crust.
The proofing time for bread dough varies based on the dough's makeup (amount of preferment, flour choices, and hydration) and the temperature at which it's proofed. The dough should generally be proofed for around 1 to 4 hours at a warm temperature or overnight (or more) at a cold refrigerator temperature.
Homemade bread, especially when made with whole grains, is packed with nutrients. Whole grain flours retain the bran and germ of the grain, which are rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Store-bought bread, particularly white bread, often uses refined flours that have been stripped of these beneficial components.
All it takes is a small amount of dough enhancer per loaf to create a much lighter and fluffier result. Using a dough enhancer like Vital Wheat Gluten works to improve the texture and elasticity of the dough and elongate the strands of gluten. Doing so allows more room for the gas in the dough to develop and rise.
The second proving has given the bread more elasticity, and made it harder to deflate the air. Second rises may add significantly to the total time it takes to complete a loaf of bread, but the step can be essential to achieving the taste and texture inherent to a number of popular breads.
An easy way is to hold the dough with one hand and stretch it out over the work surface with the other, then bring it back to a ball and repeat with the other hand. Keep kneading until it has a smooth texture and can be stretched without tearing – this typically takes 10 minutes.