Non-plastic alternatives for bread storage?

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GaryBishop on 9 Feb 2025 at 15:51

Following up on Microplastics accumulation in human brains does anyone have suggestions for plastic free bread storage?

My plastic bags do a great job of keeping my bread fresh but I don't need more plastic in my brain. 

Gary

I bought a bamboo bread box from Amazon about 1 1/2 years ago. Very satisfied with it. However, the model that I bought is no longer available. Searching Amazon for bamboo bread box yields lots of results with different shapes and sizes. I recommend buying a model with a sturdy flat top. You then can save on counter space by storing other kitchen items on top of the box (for example, my spice rack).

That's near the top of my list too, Gary. I imagine all the handling, creasing, twisting, etc. to be a particle-creation-fest. And not just for storage here, but 1/3 of everything I bake gets handed to a friend or relative, so it has to be a bag or wrapping.

My son suggested cheese paper:

https://www.formaticum.com/pages/faq?srsltid=AfmBOoo5vCatfs3VQTZe6ix07enojGvRO4PAKXpfV9-pOFPIUM4fNdXk

I'm thinking along the lines of good 'ol waxed paper bags (without the plastic viewing window).

 

On Amazon these are described:

  • Lock in freshness with our paper/poly duplex construction

 

Does poly mean plastic? I can't find the definition of "Dubl Wax®"

this is what bagcraft says: 
"Dubl Wax®: We use two different technologies to create Dubl Wax® paper. Our bags are coated on one side with heavy wax and on the other side with dry wax, which provides a strong moisture and moderate oxygen barrier to keep baked goods fresh longer. Our Dubl Wax® deli papers are aggressively infused with wax to provide a smooth uniform high- performance moisture barrier."

Tracey Pope sent an attachment that says

These items meet the ASTM Standard
Specification requirements to be labeled commercially compostable. Products
ranging from waxed paper sheets and liners to sandwich and bakery bags.

Compostable Products by Bagcraft.

Note that they are commercially compostable; this isn't your compost pile at home...

I've tried waxing my own cloth, but it still lets moisture through faster than I'd like. I know bread is at it's absolute best within 48hrs of baking, but that's too often for me (at least unless/until the family gets big enough to be actually eating a loaf every day or two). My current best compromise is to put the bread in a plain paper bag, and then put that paper bag inside a gallon ziploc bag. My thinking is that, since the bread isn't in direct contact with the plastic, microplastic contamination is minimized.

I'm hoping to build myself a wooden bread box to fit my batards and 9" Pullman loaves some time this year. My wife bought me a bamboo bread box a year or two ago, but the door didn't fit tightly enough to keep the bread from drying out as if it was just out on the counter.

My standards for average cross-sectional area put a lower bound on the appropriate volume of a loaf of bread, due to the square-cube law. Pre-heating the oven to 450F also isn't free. Believe it or not, not everyone has the same experiences and priorities that you do, and your quippy, one-size-fits-all answers are rarely - if ever - helpful to anyone. Enjoy!

I had a partial 100% rye loaf and this thread prompted me to try the paper bag in the plastic bag storage. After storing the loaf overnight, upon removing the l noticed that the paper bag did not feel as crisply dry as when new and the loaf seemed to have accelerated drying out. I believe the paper bag absorbed moisture from the loaf during storage. In the future, I'm going to wrap with waxed paper, then put in a plastic bag.

I wish I could buy some Dubl-Wax bags in less than 1000 piece lots! 

We should compare storing bread in plastic bags versus these wax bags.

Maybe a piece in each with careful weight measurements before and after?

Softness would be interesting to compare but I don't know how to make an objective measurement.

The load needs some ability to emit moisture without a buildup, otherwise the crust gets ruined by softening up (and often getting too chewy to bite through easily). Of course, it depends on what kind of crust you like. It seems to me that heavily waxed bags would act the same as plastic in this regard. 

We received a Christmas gift of ginger cookies in this tin. It is 7.5 inches in diameter and 5.5 inches deep. It would work for half of my typical Pullman loaf. 

Cookie tin

I baked a loaf yesterday and after cooling completely I cut it in half and carefully weighed each piece. I put half in my usual plastic bag and half in the tin overnight. After 15.5 hours they weighed only 0.1g (tin) and 0.2g (bag) less; both of these are within my experimental error.

I couldn't discern any difference in texture. I sliced each of them for breakfast and couldn't tell them apart. 

I will use this tin for fresh bread storage going forward.

The next step is testing the wax bags for freezer storage. I've got half the loaf in the freezer now. I will report on it after I thaw it out in a few days.

Weight loss comparison 15.5 hours
TypeBeforeAfter
tin330.1330.0
plastic402.8402.6

Gary

Yeah, I don't have an issue with crust softening, a minute or two in the toaster takes care of that to my satisfaction.

I found a couple kraft lunch bags in the pantry. Next loaf I make, I'm going to try pre-moistening one of the bags and use it inside a plastic bag.

In the winter months I store bread in the unheated laundry room. Right now it is about 48ºF on the shelf next to the wall where I keep it. I rarely see mold in the (typical) week-long loaf life. Summertime is a different story, of course...

I placed half my loaf of bread into one of these waxed bags and into the freezer. I'll thaw it out after I eat the remaining bread in my tin and report on the weight.

The bags have no visible branding. They arrived quickly. They appear sturdy enough for multiple uses. 

Gary

These days I bake mostly Pullman loaves with the lid on. It occurs to me that I could store cooled loaves in the cleaned and dried pan if I had a tight fitting lid. The normal lid might do the job; the gaps are pretty small. 

Loaves baked with the lid on would always fit the pan, so I'm surprised this is the first time I've ever heard of this as an idea. I am going to try it out the next time I make a sandwich loaf! I do wonder if it wouldn't have enough air circulating around and would cause mold issues though. Maybe it'd work well if one eats a few slices first...

I happen to have two 9x4x4 Pullman pans because I abused the first one out of ignorance and had to buy a second one after about 10 years. I never use the old one except occasionally as a "dutch oven" for a loaf I'm baking with the lid off. 

I'm also going to try a brown paper bag.

Surely, Fred's method of putting the bread in a paper bag, then into a plastic bag is the simplest, most convenient, practical solution. And no new purchases required.

Aluminum has its own issues. Aluminum is neurotoxic and chronic exposure has been linked to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Granted, wrapping some foil around bread isn't likely to cause the same exposure as boiling tomato sauce in an aluminum pot, but the same is true for putting bread in a plastic bag vs microwaving leftovers in plastic tupperware.

A supposed causative link between aluminum and Alzheimer's has been retired long ago, if I understand things correctly.

Parchment papers are coated on one side.  The better ones use a silicone coating of some kind. The paper could be used with the coating on the outside, it seems to me, although it may be hard to find sheets large enough (the same is true of cheese paper).

TomP

I want to achieve several things for storing most of my loaves:

  1. Don't soften the crust too soon;
  2. Don't let the cut end dry out;
  3. Don't let mold start to grow.

#3 won't be satisfied if the loaf is bagged in plastic or some other airtight material too soon. I keep the end from drying out by standing the loaf on end, and that rules out typical bread boxes.  However, wrapping the cut end with aluminum foil works well, too, and that is compatible with a bread box. If a bread box is used I would still wrap the cut end. I've given up on bread boxes at least twice.  I suspect that they were essential back when most houses had mice, but they just haven't worked well for me.

Enclosing a fresh loaf in anything that keeps moisture in will soften the crust That's fine for a soft sandwich loaf but not for most of my breads. I find I can leave them unwrapped two, or usually three days.  After that I give up on the crust and bag them in zip lock bags.  Here is where I would like a good non-plastic alternative.

TomP

I sometimes keep bread in the plastic cake containers ice-cream cakes come in, and once the loaf is about a third gone I can stand it on end inside it. Now, I realize that's plastic, but you can buy cake display stands with lids that are made of glass. Maybe that would work?

For good reason recycling is the LAST of the Three R's (Reduce... Reuse... Recycle).

And, as the microplastics situation has made me aware, we have to be very discerning with Reuse aspect when it comes to plastic objects.