Why the refrigerator is bad for bread

The refrigerator is probably in the top 10 of inventions that have postively affected humankind. Being able to keep items cool dramatically slows down spoilage, allowing people to keep a wider variety of food (and leftovers) safely stored for later consumption. However, there are a few items that don’t belong in the refrigerator, one of the most important being bread, because it actually makes bread go stale faster. Serious Eats explains the science behind this conundrum.

Bread made from wheat goes through several enzymatic changes as it converts from dry flour to wet dough to finished bread. One of these changes involves the starch. It starts out as with a crystalline structure that is broken down during the mixing, kneading, and baking processes. However, the starch may be down but not out once the bread is finished – the molecules slowly start to reorganize into their crystalline form as soon as the bread is cool. Although refrigeration tends to slow down most processes, this is one instance where it actually speeds up the transformation.

Serious Eats put bread through a series of experiments with storage methods, wrapping it in various coverings and holding it at different temperatures. The TL;DR answer is that wrapping your bread in plastic or foil keeps it from drying out, and storing wrapped bread in the freezer can significantly extend its freshness. It’s a little more nuanced than that, but if your eyes glaze over at the thought of science experiments, that nugget is the key takeaway. Since bread defrosts quickly, there is little downside to keeping it in the freezer (except displacing other items if your freezer is on the small side like ours).