Simple 6p storage hack kept my bakery crusty bread fresh and soft for seven days

Unlike sliced bread, bakery crusty bread can turn stale within a day of purchase.

This can be incredibly irritating, especially if you have lots of the loaf left.

Bakery bread goes stale quickly because of a process called starch recrystallisation, where the starch molecules in the bread lose moisture and make the bread hard.

Whilst dampening the slice of bread and sticking it in the oven to regain moisture may help, it’s also important to look at how you are storing the bread.

I’ve found a simple which helped to keep my loaf fresh for seven days, which I was so surprised about.

I have always kept my loaves of bread in a cool, dry environment whilst placing it inside a bread bag.

Cloth bread bags are said to be ideal as they can help it to breathe.

However, the drawstring in place on my bread bag meant that tiny bits of air were still able to enter the bag, turning the loaf stale.

After researching online, I discovered many people claiming that keeping bread sealed up in plastic will stale it faster.

However, I decided to give it a go as my bags were letting in too much air.

I simply used a click and seal food bag from Sainsbury’s to test out the hack, and they cost £1.65 for 25 bags.

I placed the loaf inside the bag, made sure to seal it up completely and left it on the side.

The following morning, my bread was still super soft in the middle, unlike usual, where it was hard and only suitable for toasting.

It was still fresh that evening as well as the following morning and there was no mould or signs of it.

In fact, my fresh loaf of bread was still edible for seven days after placing it in the plastic bag – which are also reusable so there is no wastage.

Each bag works out at around 6p and I can reuse them multiple times for bread or different food items.

I was so surprised at how well this storage hack worked, and I’ve been doing it ever since for my loaves.