I generally wrap my cooled breads (not the ones for the freezer) in a tea towel. I find that it keeps them from drying out, but without losing as much of the crust integrity and without getting that plastic smell/sogginess. Just a thought.

And we should assume that you're talking Celsius degrees with your baking temp, right?  I just wanted to be certain about that.  230 degrees Celsius is around 446 degrees Fahrenheit, for the sake of those living in the U.S.

I'm not saying you should risk a raw, doughy center to the focaccia, but just bumping your bake temp to 233-235 C and baking until done -- probably 5 minutes less -- may help a bit.

--Dan DiMuzio

is caused by the gelatinized starch crystalizing; it begins the moment you take bread from the oven, and there is little you can do about it. How fast it stales is a function of its surface-to-volume ratio. Foccacia has a high ratio (that's bad) a boule has a relatively low ratio (thats good). If your making Fougasse, its very bad. Furthermore, once cut into, a very open crumb will stale faster than a closed crumb. Jeffery Hamelman has a good discussion of staling, and slowing it down, in Bread on pages 28 and 29.

There's only two of us to eat all the bread we make; discounting all we give away,a whole loaf still goes stale on us. Hamelman warns the danger zone for staling is 32°F to 50°F--bread stales most quickly in this temperature range; that's why bread shouldm't be kept in a refrigerator.

Here's what we do: We allow the bread to cool completely, ryes and larger boules we leave at room temperature overnight, in a plastic bag with as much of the air squeezed out as possible. Just before freezing we cut the cooled loaves in half (except for baguettes, and really small loaves) put them back together and freeze them in their plastic bags, again squeezing out all the air possible.

We only take a half from a bag, wrap it in aluminum foil, and put it in a 375°F oven to thaw, and "refresh" it. By cooling completely before freezing, and thawing in a heated oven the bread spends the least time passing through the staling "danger zone". I can't tell fresh bread from previously frozen, unless its been in the freezer more than a month, then I find I have to cut a slice on the open side, and throw the slice away (or use it for crumbs or croutons).

We also store our "in-use" halves in Debbie Meyer Bread Bags. I've not done a side-by-side test between these bags and ordinary plastic, but they keep bread fresh-like for three or four days. Again, we always squeeze the air out of the bag.

We frequently use foccacia, sliced horizontally, for sandwiches. We bake it in a half-sheet pan, and, when cooled, cut it into sandwich sizes squares, fast freeze them on a cookie sheet, and, once frozen, store them in a deflated plastic bag in the freezer. When we make sandwiches with them we only take out what we need.

David G

Ah yes, Dan Lepard's recipe did specify 2.5% malt

http://danlepard.com/content/pages/focaccia.htm

At the risk of telling you something you may already know, I'd recommend against refrigeration for your bread.  Staling still isn't completely understood, but it is known that refrigerator temperatures accelerate it.  Yes -- refrigeration will help delay the occurence of molding, but the firming of the starches will proceed more rapidly there.  If you eat a loaf in less than 4 or 5 days anyway (longer for long-fermented doughs or those with pre-ferments) the molding is unlikely to be an issue.

Freezing is fine, apparently.  But if you thaw an entire loaf, you will get less staling if you take the entire wrapped loaf out of the freezer -- don't unwrap it -- and just let it thaw on your counter.  The less time it spends in the 40-70 degree (an estimate) range, the slower will staling proceed.

Which isn't to say it won't proceed -- it certainly will -- but it will do so less rapidly at room temperature than at refrigerated temperatures above the freezing point.

I suppose that if you always toast your bread, then the staling isn't an issue and you might as well refrigerate the loaf to hold off mold growth.  But if you do like using non-toasted slices for anything (like dinner bread), you might wish to reconsider your options.

--Dan DiMuzio