What "wrapping" do you use when gifting bread?
This morning I gifted a coworker and a neighbor each with a loaf of bread that had been out of the oven for about 30 minutes. Both loaves had substantially cooled. I loosely wrapped one in some tissue paper and laid it in a large paper shopping bag with handles; this seemed to work well at keeping the crust crisp. The other I laid on tissue paper, then placed in a plastic bakery-type bag into which I'd punched many holes. I was surprised at how much condensation developed on the plastic despite the holes, and I ended up ripping a bunch of new larger holes in the bag in an attempt to let the moisture out.
For those of you who give bread as gifts, how long have you found the loaves take to cool before they give off no more moisture? And what do you wrap them in for gifting? I'm hoping to find materials that are readily available and don't break the bank. I may just have to spring for the perforated bakery bags I've seen on some bakery supply websites.
Thank you, and happy holidays :)
C~
I often need to deliver bread before it is cool and I like to use drawstring bags that I make from cotton fabric. If you type "cloth bread bags" in the search box you will see some ideas, A.
I wrap mine with sandwich bags, using multiple bags (and lots of tape) if needed. They're cheap, breathable, and haven't leeched any off tastes yet. They're not pretty, but I guess you can always put them in gift bags, huh?
wash it and then sew up some bags or large dishcloths. Then wrap up the bread. Sometimes I use a clear wrapping over that.
is my source. I buy $1 baskets and colorful dish towels. I wrap the bread loosely in the towel and present it in the basket. Sometimes I add a ribbon.
The towels allow the bread to "breathe" and make a colorful presentation.
... how long have you found the loaves take to cool before they give off no more moisture? (About three hours, sometimes four. I prefer to wait the four hour period)
... what do you wrap them in for gifting?If it's an informal gift, I use plain brown paper. For a formal gift I might wrap it in a nice new cotton dish towel and present it ina simple basket, or gift wrap it using brown paper, covered with tissue paper inside a festive wrapping paper. I also like to enclose gift breads inside a cloth bag with draw string closures. My wife can sew one of those up in about fifteen minutes (she has a couple of closets and chest filled with miscellaneous pieces of cotten material). That's inexpensive and always appreciated.
I would never, even when cooled, gift a loaf contained in a plastic bag. If it's sealed it is sure to accumulate condensation from nothing more than the atmospheric chages that occur, even in a properly cooled loaf, between my kitchen and their front door. Punching wholes in a pastice bag essentilly defeats any purpose for which the plastic bag might have been selected for use in the first place.
While I wouldn't suggest it for your purposes, the presentation of the bread seen in the first photo in the link is dramatic:
http://gourmettraveller.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/noma/
That looks very interesting and is a nice presentation of the bread. The fabric used reminds me of what are used to make tea cozies that help to keep teapots warm.