The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
Once you've baked a homemade loaf or a tray of pastries, the question soon comes up: how do you keep it fresh? A few simple rules stop your effort from ending up in the bin.
Bread: not in the fridge
Bread goes stale faster in the fridge, because at low temperatures the starch "ages" more quickly and the crumb hardens. So we keep homemade bread at room temperature:
- in a cotton or linen bread bag, or wrapped in a clean tea towel,
- in a bread bin,
- cut side down on a board, if we're going to eat it the same day.
Plastic bags keep the crumb soft, but the crust goes soft too, and in a warm room mould can appear more quickly.
Some breads, such as our potato bread, naturally stay soft and fresh for several days, because the potato holds moisture in the crumb.
Freeze bread while it's fresh
Freeze it as soon as possible once it has cooled completely. You can freeze a whole loaf or a sliced one – sliced is practical, because you take out only as many slices as you need. Wrap the bread well in a freezer bag, squeeze out the air and label it with the date.
Thawing: thaw a whole loaf at room temperature in its bag, then put it in a hot oven for a few minutes to refresh the crust. Slices can go straight from the freezer into the toaster.
Pastries and bakes
- Dry bakes and biscuits – in a well-sealed container at room temperature. Don't store soft and
crisp biscuits together, because the crisp ones absorb moisture.
- Yeast bakes (rolls, potica – Slovenian rolled nut cake) – like bread: wrapped, at room
temperature, or frozen.
- Bakes with quark (Slovenian skuta), cream or custard – always in the fridge, covered, eaten
within a few days.
- Fruit bakes – at room temperature on the first day, then in the fridge.
We give exact storage tips with each recipe, because they vary.
What to freeze and what not
Bread, yeast bakes, sponge layers, biscuits and bakes without cream fillings freeze well. Bakes with whipped cream, gelatine-set creams and very juicy fruit freeze less well, as they can turn watery once thawed.