A very common question in the sourdough community. How long can sourdough keep? I would like to explore what this really means, I think this comes up a lot because when we first get into baking sourdough there are so many questions. Often people spend hours researching and researching before getting into baking. It seems really complicated and hard to start.
I typically find that my sourdough loaves keep about 4-5 days on the counter.
As there are no preservatives in the dough (unless you for some reason add some) it is a “natural” bread. Though I would say that a loaf of sourdough at my house (or at work, where I started baking too) does not make it to 4 or 5 days as it gets eaten sooner.
Another good way to make the bread keep longer is to freeze it, I find these loaves freeze amazingly well. Typically I will slice them first and then put the slices in a ziplock bag. I also freeze the loaves whole and find that they are almost as good, probably up to about a month or two.
After baking I usually leave the loaf on the counter to cool over night, or as long as possible before you can resist eating it. Then I just put it in a air tight bag and that does the trick. After a day in a ziplock bag it does allow the crust to soften up, and is a little easier to cut. If you want to keep it a little crustier then keep it in a brown paper bag.
These are the paper bags I use, I did buy about 1000 of them as this is what I like to deliver my loaves in. They have a classic bakery feel and it fits the loaves in My Sourdough Recipe perfectly.
What do you do when you have some of a loaf that has kind of gone stale?
One of the best uses is make it into croutons for a home made Caesar salad! It works amazing because of the delicious texture of the dough and crust.
Making croutons:
- Cut the remaining bread into slices
- cut the slices into half inch x half inch cubes
- Put all cubes in a medium sized bowl and drizzle in some olive oil, salt and any season you like
- Place on a tray line with parchment paper in the oven @ 350F
- Bake for about 10-15 min until desired crispiness is reached.
- Throw in you salad and enjoy!
- My favourite Caesar salad recipe is from Matty Matheson’s cookbook “Homestyle Cookery”. He makes the dressing from scratch too, so good!