The Absolute Best Method For Storing Homemade Sourdough Bread

Store-bought sourdough bread offers a deliciously tangy flavor to a sandwich, but if you go the extra mile and bake your own at home, you may have some leftovers to use later. This means you'll need to store your bread properly to keep it fresh for as long as possible. But how should you do so? Use a two-step process of stowing your sourdough bread in a freezer-safe bag and then storing that container in your freezer, which will keep your loaf in tip-top shape.

Storing your leftover sourdough bread in your refrigerator may seem like the obvious thing to do. However, it's a bad idea to store your bread in the fridge. The cool temperature of your fridge will make the starch in your sourdough bread recrystallize. This will cause your loaf to become so dry that it will turn stale. Conversely, the lower temperature of your freezer will keep your sourdough from becoming stale, so it remains as fresh as possible until you're ready to eat it again.

Your sourdough bread needs to be wrapped tightly in a freezer-safe bag while it's stored in your freezer. If you've cut your sourdough bread into slices, wrap them in plastic wrap to protect them from freezer burn, and then put them in a freezer-safe plastic bag. Seal the bag as tightly as you can so that there is as little air in the bag as possible. If you've got a whole loaf of sourdough bread, wrap it in plastic wrap twice before placing the bread in a resealable plastic freezer bag.

You can also use a reusable wrap to contain your sourdough bread, such as a beeswax wrap, which will keep your bread fresh. Just be sure to wrap the bread as tightly as you can. If you wrap your sourdough bread with beeswax wrap, the warmth from your hands will make the fabric conform to the shape of your bread, which will help keep every part of the bread tightly wrapped. Once you've got your sourdough bread contained and stored in your freezer, it should last for quite a while. 

Slices or loaves of sourdough bread that are wrapped or kept in a tightly sealed container should last up to three months while stored in your freezer. This means that when you're ready to eat your bread again — and perhaps make leftover bread and cheese patties – the bread will have retained most of its texture and flavor from when it was first baked. But before you can eat your sourdough bread, you'll have to defrost it first.

It may seem obvious to just let your sourdough bread sit on your kitchen counter and thaw. However, this can lead to your bread becoming stale. Instead, you should reheat your loaf, which will cause the crystalline structures in the bread to disintegrate after being impacted by the bread's water and starch molecules. Those crystalline structures make the bread tougher when they're intact. Once those structures are broken down, the bread will become softer again.

If you've frozen sourdough bread in individual slices, microwave the slices until they become tender — which should take between 15 and 25 seconds — or reheat them in the oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for just five minutes. If you've frozen a whole loaf of sourdough bread, bake it in your oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 to 30 minutes, which should adequately thaw the bread.