I've been making sandwich loaves in 9x5 pans, 2 loaves at a time, once a week, and they are by far my most popular/quickly-consumed-by-my-family bake. For this reason I'm thinking of getting 12"-13" pans to end up with longer loaves that will last awhile (there is 2 inches left of the batch I made Thursday!) but still fit in my oven.
My one concern: a 9x5 loaf fits in a gallon-size zip-seal bag that lives on the counter, but what would I store the longer loaves in? I don't want to buy a loaf from the store just to get the bag!
From experience, my family is a complete fail at keeping the bread wrapped if I use plastic wrap or foil. A bread box means they don't see it and it gets forgotten (and they bring home store bread D:). What do you use to wrap your bread? is there a vendor that would sell me 2 bags?
There are a couple of options you can try. Plastic carry out bags from your local supermarket (ask for a couple of extra at checkout).
Or you can buy some like these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JH73LAS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 from Amazon or a restaurant supply store. Shop around for the best price.
If you have larger boule shaped loaves you can try these https://www.webstaurantstore.com/plastic-18-x-24-food-bag-on-a-roll-box/182RRF24.html They work great as proofing nags also.
Jeff
turn one of them inside out and seal with the zipper around the middle of the loaf.
I never thought of turning one so the zipper faces out! I will try this and see if my kids (and husband) can be diligent about resealing around the middle.
rubber band to hold the two bags together where they overlap.
Good luck...my sons were too damn lazy to do just that and my hubby never had to get a piece of bread for himself...he had me. LOL. In fact...it was pretty rare they could figure out how to put a bread tie on a actual bread bag. I used to beg people to give me those plastic tabs everyone throws away from store bought bags of bread...just so I could get my boys to close a bread bag at home. Why a clip is easier than twisting a twist tie if beyond me. Drove me mad. Which is why I went with large bags that they could just sort of fold over as they sat the loaf on the counter cause you know twisting a bag is just plain hard work after all. They finally accepted a cloths pin as a fastener.
after all the trouble to make the kind of bread they want, right? They can't be bothered to just close the bag up so it doesn't dry out. That's why a ziploc bag works, no separate fastener piece.
I searched these words:
bread storage bag
on Amazon, and got some potentially useful results.
Honestly what I do myself is: enough plastic shopping bags arrive in the house that I re-use one to hold the bread. But I know that's not the most attractive.
I saw these, but the reviews of the zip not staying closed gave me pause. I suppose the price is not too bad just to try...
Thank you OldLoaf, I've seen those but I don't need 100 or 250... just 2, or 5 at the most in case of tearing. Actually these 10x18 inch bags would be perfect, but I don't have 500 friends to split the order with.
I've actually thought about these purpose-built containers, but not sure if I want to commit to something that will take up space when not in use.
If you search
food storage bags
on Amazon, you'll find a roll of 12"×20" bags (no zippers) for under $15, meaning you can afford not to recruit 500 friends.
is just to cut the loaf in half.
I'd vote for Mini's low-tech, don't-buy-anything-more responses. Brilliant!
I noticed on this thread that in the US you haven't phased out single-use plastic shopping bags at the registers. We have in Australia at the large supermarkets, which has caused a lot of discussion at first but has now quietened down which I'm interpreting as acceptance. It didn't take long to get into the habit of taking our own bags to the store, but you can buy reusable bags at the store if necessary. So my query is; is there a move to eliminate single-use plastic bags in the US?
In the state of Washington...there are many locations you can not get plastic bags for your purchases...but they still provide produce bags. I live in a town that has gone to paper...but 3 miles away...same area code but different neighborhood...you can get plastic. I don't care either way. I just want options if I left my reusable bags in the car for some reason.
Yes, there certainly is a move to eliminate plastic bags, though it being the US there are approximately ten thousand proposed implementations of the plan, and every implementation is the best, so they're all going ahead at once. And every time a plastic reduction plan starts, the next county disagrees, and requires each shopper to take two plastic bags even if they didn't buy anything. ?
OK, OK, not quite, but it's definitely a confusing patchwork.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007HUNITQ/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I've used these for many years!! More substantial and larger than the cheap ones you can find at the grocery store...and they fit my long loaves. Don't have to worry about those crusty ears poking a hole thru.
There must be drawstring bags made of a strong and not-too-permeable fabric (i.e. not just fluffy cotton). A tightly-woven polyester or nylon or whatever, perhaps. Not sure what would keep the bread best. Don't want rubber-coated, because eventually pieces come off. Get two of them, so that "it's in the wash" doesn't become a household disaster. ☺️
like this? with a zipper? hmmm, it's a thought. I wonder how many i could get out of a yard.
I mean, sure, if you love to sew in zippers, or if you hate the look of just a drawstring, then go for it! A zipper seems a bit over-engineered to me for just a bread bag, but maybe there are reasons against drawstrings that I didn't consider (like if they wear out the bag too fast, or whatever).
If you simply cut your yard of fabric into quarters, I'm pretty sure you'd have four extremely generous-sized bread bags. Can you fit six if you're sneaky, or would they get too small? I'm bad at math. Correction: This stuff is at least 58" wide, my mistake! You'd get a lot more than four. Eight? Maybe even ten? It depends how big the bread is. ☺️
Velcro. ?
This is the exact container I use:
https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Specialty-Storage-Container-1777190/dp/B0000E1VV4
but if you search under "bread tupperware container" you'll find quite a few other options as well.
I just use regular plastic grocery bag.
Costco plastic meat bags.
Wild-Yeast
We wrap our loaves in a heavy linen cloth, which works fine in our rainy summer seasons; storing in tightly sealed containers can cause mold if any bread remains into the second week. As our winters are dry, a sealed container does the trick, and the risk of mold is reduced owing to chilly temps and low humidity.
I will try one of each, zipper and drawstring, and report back. Velcro will probably get crumbs stuck in it. Allowing for seaming i can get 6 from a yard (the loaves are 4" wide and 5" tall -- fluffy crowns Hokkaido milkbread style). Challenge accepted.