Do you have a breadbox if so, do you find it helps preserve bread?

Food & Drink, Events and Entertainment
1

My parents used to have one and I’m wondering whether it would help keep bread from going stale.

2

I don’t remember it working.

I find the best thing is paper bags. In fact I even kept paper bags from bread I had bought to keep the one I bake myself in.

Reminds me of the saying “Altes Brot ist nicht hart, kein Brot, das ist hart”.
(old bread ain’t hard, not to have bread is hard). That is a saying from my Grandma’s days but who knows where we are heading?

3

Now I went down a rabbit hole of why some bread goes stale after a day or two but sliced bread lasts forever. I found this interesting video:

4

We had one when we were kids, too, although round our way it was known as a “bread bin”, which I never thought of as an odd name until now.

Can’t say whether the bread stayed fresher for longer in there, more than just kept it tidy and out of the way. Our staple bread was a huge granary loaf from the bakery in the village but it never lasted more than a couple of days before it was completely finished so I don’t know how long it would have gone before going stale.

Nowadays here, we buy bread a couple of times a week and just leave it out on the kitchen top in its paper bag and it’s fine. Some go a bit dry quicker than others.

5

We have a bread bin which we’ve had for years.
I don’t know if it helps the bread stay fresh for longer but it keeps it all in one place and tidy.
I keep it in paper bread bags inside the bread bin and I think that helps.

6

Home from the bakery, I either chunk it (in the case of ciabatta or baguette) or slice it (in the case of rye) and freeze what we are not using immediately, carefully wrapped. Defrosted rye is good just so, and originally crispy bread is put under the grill for a couple of minutes–almost as good as fresh from the bakery.

7

Wrap the loaf of bread in a cotton towel. That will do the trick.

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8

I want my breadbox with a pull-out wooden grill underneath you can slice it on, that keeps the breadcrumbs in its place. That grate is also where my bread knife is stored. Its flat top serves as “storage” place for the vinegar, oil, ketchup, etc.

IME the bread does indeed dry less fast in a cotton or paper bag, in the breadbox. But overall, that’s almost secondary to the rest.

9

I have one, like this one here:

https://www.erlanger-verschenkboerse.de/hausrat/brottopf-mit-deckel-scheurich-keramik_i465619

Just in blue. Originally bought at Hofpisterei almost 20 years ago.

I think the company that made these doesn’t make them anymore. So I hope mine will last for a while.

Does it help? Well, a bit. They aren’t airtight, on purpose. So the bread will dry out. Just a bit slower.

10

Have one here; had it for decades. Husband also got one of those new ones that are supposed to help keep bread/pastries longer. Not sure it works for bread as it’s a bit small even though he got the larger version, but for pastries it seems to help a bit.

11

We’ve got one as well. While functional it’s more for decoration. We tend to slice and freeze our bread as we don’t ear bread everyday.

On the other hand I’ve noted that many SFUK members have large soap-boxes that they like to trundle out from time to time.

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12

I buy bread daily and immediately put it in a plastic bag (the kind I grab from the fruit section) to keep both the bread and its original paper bag clean from external contamination. I’ve noticed that many parents put their kids in shopping carts with their shoes on.

When I get home, I remove the plastic bag and place the bread inside a linen bread bag. If a bread bag isn’t available, a clean plastic bag works too, just don’t close it tightly. Be sure to use plastic bags with small holes which are pretty common in Switzerland. Unlike most people, I don’t remove the original paper bread bag. Unfortunately, little kids don’t always wrap the bread back up properly, and it goes stale much faster.

To prevent moldy bread, I keep our breadbox far from the stove, oven, kettle, dishwasher, sink, and other heat or moisture sources. It’s placed right next to the breakfast nook and it’s very similar to this one.

Although it’s not the recommended method, I’ve also stored extra loaves in the fridge, especially in the summer. I have a separate fridge set to 9°C, where I store fruits and veggies that are sensitive to cold, Danish and Persian pastries (baklava, etc.) and non-perishable foods. I haven’t had any issues with bread drying out or going stale.

As for leftover bread, I store it pre-sliced in the freezer to keep it fresh for my morning breakfast or as a backup.

13

A little off topic, the Coop in Signy has a bread slicer. Works like magic, even with the bread I bought from the next door bakery

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14

Good quality bread stays alot longer fresh than some of the rubbish sold these days.

15

All the stores and bakeries in Belgium had one of those, they are literally the best thing since sliced bread.:joy:
I’ve never seen one here unfortunately.

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16

They’re quite useless and yet another thing to clean (we had one and it was always full of bread crumbs and half-finished bread slices my kids just threw there, in their infinite wisdom).
Now we keep the breads in their original (paper) bag in the cupboard, and we take it out and cut as many slices as we need for a meal. One loaf of bread doesn’t last more than 2 days with two growing children. That object…can be nice and all, but as I said, it would be one more thing to clean…

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17

:rofl:
I can see your next step will be getting fresh salad from one restaurant, then pop in the one next door to add the sauce, 'cause it’s better there.

18

I’ve seen them in the Nederlands. Back in the 80-ies but they were behind the counter, only used by the sales people. They did ask you though each time whether you wanted it sliced.
Pretty cool things, I agree.

19

I once asked a Coop employee in their bakery if I was OK to use it on bread from the bakery. She shrugged and said “pourquoi pas?”. I’m not certain that she was conveying Coop’s corporate policy but she didn’t say “No”.

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20

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The best bread in the world.