July 16, 2019 - 2:48am
Best way to wrap a gift sourdough loaf?
I live in a hot and humid climate and am also fairly new to baking bread. I have pretty well taken care of storage needs at my home (with a wooden bread box), but will be giving a day-old sourdough olive loaf to a friend in a day or two. She does not have a bread box. What will be the best way to enclose or wrap the bread for a friend I know does not have a bread box?
Online research tells me a paper bag will dry out the loaf before its time, and that a plastic bag will suffocate the loaf.
What do you all do?
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I am equally interested in learning about this. This reply will enable an email notification to all replies to this post.
Thanks for posing the question.
Since I am the only one that eats this bread in my house, it is sliced after waiting a day and then frozen. It keeps for weeks and bread tastes very good to me.
Dan
Paper bag. Open.
and place it in a pot with a well fitting lid. That should prevent it from drying out.
I asked a baker this question once, and he said the best thing to do was to store the bread in a paper bag and then put that in a plastic bag. He only recommended this for one day, and said if you need to store it longer your best option is to freeze the bread.
FWIW, I share our bread through a neighborhood barter circle. I originally thought I'd wrap it up as I admired at Hewn in Evanston, IL: Thin but substantial (minimal moisture loss) 'butcher' paper with the Hewn hand-stamp, tied with string. Folksy and no plastic involved. So I bought a big roll of 'butcher' paper that turned out to be too thick to just fold around the 1# miche quarters we share -- pretty stiff paper. So I found an origami website that taught me to fold 5-sided cubic boxes. I fold up two of these for each bartered miche quarter: one a tiny bit smaller than than the other so it can be the box and the larger one, the lid (19" and 20" squares, respectively). Then they're tied with twine. And hand-stamped, of course. Recipients say they stay fresh(ish -- don't dry out too much) until consumed.
Tom
I usually use a paper bag, but my batards are a bit big for them, so I just rip one side. I love the idea of origami folded 5-side cubic box and am going to search it out. Great idea. Thanks.
Gavin
Tom,
Have you a link o the origami site? I've become lost in the masses of origami sites. Cheers.
I’m with Gavin. This is the closest video I could find to make an origami box. But the box is tiny. https://youtu.be/QEJxrXY_xpw
Please send more information. Where do you get paper large enough?
Your idea is ingenious!
Danny
Yes, the YouTube you found uses the same folding protocol I use. But I found it here. And I did the math: Measure the square of paper you're starting with (8.5"x8.5" from a letter size sheet, for starting practice for example) and then measure the size of the box it produces. Using that proportion (starting paper : final box), you scale up your starting paper to a size that will produce a box of the side dimension you need to hold your bread. For my 2k miche quarters, I start with a 19"x19" square for the box and a 20"x20" square for the lid. The box comes out about 7"x7"x5". Perfect. The butcher paper I bought came in a 30" wide roll, so squares those sizes are easy to cut from it.
I saved the URL for another site that described a method for making an oblong box - in case I want to package a batard someday. But I can't find the URL now. I'll keep looking and post it if I do. But if you google "origami box", as you probably did to find that video, you'll find a slew of them.
Tom
Thanks Tom. Much appreciated.
Here is the site (and its video) that describes an origami box shaped more for a batard than a boule. Or for two half-baguettes side by side.
Tom
It helps a lot of hear your experiences. The Oragami thing sounds wonderful (and scary). I'll have to check it out!
Glad to hear that the bread can be good after being frozen as well. Yesterday I ended up giving her the bread in a plastic bag -- one that was unused from the produce department at the local grocery store, with a twistee.
I've probably baked about 9 or 10 loaves thus far, and was keeping my loaves in an antique (and small) dutch oven that we had started to use as a cookie jar. It is a bit corroded on the bottom, so I used masking tape to hold in a paper plate on the bottom (which has to be cut down to fit, as the "cookie jar" is only about 8 inches in diameter. Anyhow, that was working fine until I got to about the 7th or 8th loaf, which came to be covered with white mold. Since then I got really concerned about how to keep bread. I have gotten a wooden bread box for myself, but can't afford bread boxes for all, LOL.
Quarters of this 2kg miche to be shared:
A quarter nestled in box.
Covered, stamped, tied and ready to be hung on front doorknob.
No, stamp is not cannabis. It's a leaf of Acer shirasawanum, a (splendid) Japanese Maple.
Happy Sharing,
Tom