You can now enjoy a perfectly browned crusted bread with the master bread makers. Whether you are a novice or an expert, you can now bake and store your perfectly made fresh bread using the bread machine.
If you are looking for a homemade, easy to bake bread, then you are in the right direction. We, in this article, will elaborate on how to use a bread machine to make fresh loaves of bread and how the bread can later be stored. If you are a first-timer, a bread machine then is a great way to get started.
BAKE IT, SLICE IT AND STORE IT
Bread machines are a great way to create fresh loaves of bread. Making bread is pretty easy but storing it is a whole new task.
We all know the dilemma of life, we baked a fresh, hot loaf of bread, sliced it, made a sandwich and then what about the remaining bread? We know how quickly it starts to harden. So we really need to come up with a solution to keep the bread soft for longer.
You must be growing crazy thinking, now that you have made a delicious bread, how are you going to store it. Storing bread requires a bit of hard work. There are a lot of ways to store bread. You can box it, place it in a paper bag or a bread bin. You can also store the bread or even dough by freezing it and then unfreeze the dough to shape it and bake it.
Considering the busy lifestyle, people don’t have time to bake bread in a usual, standard fashion by using seasoned yeasts. There are a lot of bread machines available to knead the dough and shape it in a bread form.
So here we’ll provide you the guide on how to store fresh bread from a bread machine for it to remain edible and moist for long hours.
STORE BOUGHT BREAD VS BREAD MACHINE BREAD
You must be thinking why the store-bought bread stays longer in our kitchen environment than our home-based ones?
When you bake homemade bread, you know and can easily control what ingredients you are pouring in and the chances of adding anything unreal are almost zero to a minimum whereas the store-bought ones have a lot of preservatives which keeps it fresh for long. One thing you know when baking a homemade bread from bread machine is that what you are eating is nutritious and healthy but the issue lies in how to keep the bread from molding.
Adding preservatives slow down the growth of bacteria, yeast, and mold thus keeping your bread from getting stale for as long as possible. As homemade slices of bread are usually chemicals or as companies put it preservatives free, they usually last for a day or two.
So here we are going to share our secret of how you can keep it crisp and store it efficiently.
BEST BREAD MAKER TO KNEAD BREAD
Our top recommendation for kneading bread is the Zojirushi BB-PAC20BA BB-PAC20.
Zojirushi is a Virtuoso bread maker with gluten-free custom menu setting. The additional heater on the lid allows you to bake the bread. You can get your bread ready in about 2 hours creating a large 2-pound rectangular-shaped bread.
To knead the dough thoroughly, this bread maker is furnished with dual kneading blades. You can bake bread, a cake, and can knead whole wheat and dough with its pre- programmed baking options. Though it is a bit pricy, the benefits it provides is totally worth it.
Read More
HOW TO MAKE BREAD USING BREAD MACHINE?
Now you can bake moist, fresh and tasty loaves of bread with a crunchy crust using a bread
machine.
Total Time
The bread will be ready in about 2-3 hours. Timings can vary based on the bread maker you are using.
Serving Size
This soft, home-made bread from the bread machine will give 12 servings.
Kitchen Gadgets
Bread Machine
Ingredients
- I cup water (warm)
- 25-ounce yeast (specifically the bread machine one)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups bread flour
- ¼ cup oil
Directions
Place water, yeast, and sugar in the bread machine pan and let the yeast liquefy and foam for about 10 minutes, then add the other ingredients i-e oil, salt, and flour into the yeast pan and select the option for basic or white bread and let the bread machine do its magic by making you a scrumptious loaves of bread.
THE BEST WAY TO STORE FRESH BREAD FROM BREAD MACHINE
Below we’ll be providing a detailed step-by-step guide manual on how to properly store the
bread fresh from the bread machine:
- Once your bread is baked, remove the loaf from the pan and place it on the wire rack to let it cool wholly.
- Don’t leave the bread in the bread machine to cool or else it will become soggy.
- Once the bread is cool, tightly wrapped the bread in an air-tight zip-lock plastic bag or in an aluminum foil. Wrapped it in a couple of layers to avoid the air from getting in.
- Then store in your kitchen for up to 3 days, ensure to place it at room temperature in a cool, dark place.
- Next, you’d either have to get a ceramic bread box or a bread bin or a plastic storage box with holes for ventilation so that the bread can remain moist. Keep the box away from sunlight so that the loaf can stay fresh for up to 5 or 6 days.
THE BEST BIN TO STORE BREAD
A lot of bread bin options are available on Amazon to store bread. Our recommendation would be Brabantia Fall Front Bread Box, which with its large internal capacity can store up to 2 loaves of bread and its clever magnetic seal keep the baked good or bread fresh for long.
FREEZE BREAD FROM A BREAD MACHINE
Another way to keep the bread fresh for long is to freeze it. We sometimes place the store-bought bread in the freezer so that it can stay longer for consumption, even past it expiration days at times, so why not our home-based bread? To store the bread from the bread machine in the freezer is a great way to keep your food consumable. To keep the food moist and juicy, you need to follow some simple instructions.
- You have to follow the same instructions as mentioned above, cook your bread in your bread machine in the usual standard way, take it out and put it on the wire rack to let it cool.
- Once it is cooled, place it in a storage container or airtight jar and then put the bread loaf you baked in the bread machine in the freezer. This way it can stay fresh for months.
- Now obviously, if the bread is frozen then how are you going to use it. The answer is pretty simple when you want to use the bread, take it out a night before and put it in the refrigerator to thaw.
- You can also defrost it by putting it in the microwave oven.
- Another quicker way to unfreeze it is to remove the loaf container from the freezer or jar and wrap it in a few aluminum foil layers and then place it in the oven for about 30-40 minutes at 250 degrees and get the bread ready to eat.
Don’t Refrigerate
Hot bread when store directly sweats and which in turn make it soggy, which will cause it to
mold really quickly.
The most awful thing you could do with your bread would be to refrigerate it. Don’t ever do that unless you want your bread to dry out fast. Sure, make a sandwich and then store it in the refrigerator for a few hours but placing a sliced or whole loaf of bread in the fridge is just not wise.
Refresh Stale Bread
You must wonder how is it possible to refresh the musty bread. Don’t get your hopes high up, these are just a few tricks that might save your stale bread.
Before throwing it away, think of the options you can utilize it with. That stale bread will toast fine so you can make sandwiches with them. Or you can foil wrap your bread and then place it in a moistened (not wet) paper bag and warm it for 10-15 minutes.
You can even microwave the bread, it is a solution but not a very useful one as it will make the bread all hard and chewy.
Word of Advice!
Don’t toss the stale or slightly mold bread out as they make delicious croutons and French toast. But don’t eat it if it smelled sour.
And if none of it works, then grind them down in a food processor and made homemade bread crumbs which can be used in a variety of other recipes.
Wrapping Up!
You can freeze your freshly made bread for a couple of months but it is advisable to use it within the first month as it might get stale. You can also slice the freshly baked loaf and freeze the portion and later unfreeze and use it as per your requirements.
Don’t ever make the blunder of slicing the hot loaf of bread, you wouldn’t do justice to it. Let it cool for a while before you start slicing it.
