Bread is easily one of the most used foods in the world. Being seen in any sort of meal from toast, sandwiches, burger buns, to even accompanying soup and other types of food dishes.
We all know how annoying it is when your bread goes stale when you seem to want it most, so why not invest in a bread box?
Why use a bread box? Follow our guide to what’s great about them and the effect they have on conserving bread.
What Is A Bread Box?
Everyone is likely to have seen some form of bread box at one point in their life, whether it was in a cafe or whether it was in your own kitchen.
These handy appliances can be found everywhere and anywhere! But what are they?
Well, simply put, a bread box is a box that is used to store bread for longer, keeping away mold and other forms of bacteria.
Usually, the box is made out of wood but many people may opt to go with a plastic form of the box.
Why Use A Bread Box?
Fresh Bread For Longer!
The main reason for using a bread box is to make sure that your bread doesn’t go stale or moldy as quickly as if you kept the bread in a cupboard or on the side of your kitchen.
We all know how annoying it is when you fancy a nice sandwich or some bread to go with your soup and it’s gone bad!
How does bread go moldy? When your bread is exposed to the air, it will typically go moldy a lot quicker than if it was hidden away in a more controlled environment.
Although bread baskets look nice and look useful, they actually don’t offer anything with regard to protection for your bread against the air, and subsequently – mold.
Tiny spores that float around in the air will fall onto some damp food or other materials and will develop into mold.
Mold usually thrives on foods such as cheese, bread, and other fresh produce – so it’s always good to keep an eye out for the blue stuff!
A lot of people may think that the plastic bags that bread comes in when we buy it from the store, may protect the food against mold, but you’d be wrong.
The plastic bags don’t offer much in terms of stopping mold because once you’ve opened the bag, the bread is exposed to the elements and will slowly start to turn bad.
On top of this, it also helps when you know where your bread is, rather than searching through various drawers and shelves looking for it.
Room Temperature Storing
One of the best reasons that bread boxes work is because they store the food at room temperature.
Because of how big or small some modern houses can be, storing bread can always be a bit of a rollercoaster.
However, the controlled settings of the inside of a bread box will provide your bread with the consistency to keep your food fresh for a lot longer than usual.
Wood is a great way of preventing the external temperatures around the bread from getting affected by the heating or the air conditioning seen frequently in the homes of the 21st Century.
When there’s hotter air around the bread, the food is likely to go stale and hard a lot quicker than room temperature.
On the other end of the spectrum, colder air will cause your bread to try out and speed up the process of developing mold.
This is why it’s largely recommended that you don’t store your bread in the refrigerator.
You may be hesitant to get a bread box because of the lack of air getting into the box, which can also turn the bread bad.
However, many bread boxes nowadays come with some form of ventilation slats or small holes.
These let enough air in to allow the bread to breathe, but not enough that you’ll spoil the food.
For those who love making their own fresh bread and bread-based desserts, bread boxes are perfect!
Keeping Your Bread Safe
Like a lot of other foods, bread is easily spoiled when stored away with other elements.
For example, if you have bread stored in the same place as other food that is a lot harder or bigger than your bread, then you have the risk of the bread getting squashed.
In a bread box, there is a lot more attention paid to the bread and should hopefully prevent further damage from being caused.
On top of this, bread boxes also deter pests like small insects and spiders from getting to your food.
It’s bound to happen at some point, with small creepy crawlies like ants and flies being able to find their ways into the most unlikely of places.
You can picture your bread box as almost like an impenetrable safe that only we know the code to the goods inside!
Bread Boxes Look Great!
When it comes to how bread boxes look, they can be a great little piece of nostalgia in your home.
When we were younger, a lot of us may have noticed the classical look of a wooden box in the kitchen on the pantry.
We may not have paid much attention to it at the time, but now these bread boxes look incredibly familiar and have a great place in our modern-day kitchens.
On top of this, you can also get bread boxes with engravings on them to symbolize initials or to even have the word ‘bread’ on them.
This can bring the whole thing together and summarize just what the box does and what purpose it serves to you.
You can also get different shades of wood to ensure that there is a color or design just for you! How convenient!
Can Using a Bread Box Help in Making Toast Without a Toaster?
Using a bread box can facilitate making toast without a toaster. The bread box creates the ideal environment for keeping bread fresh and prevents it from going stale. When you need toast, simply take a slice from the bread box, place it in the oven or toaster oven, and voila! Toast without a toaster.
Final Thoughts
Bread boxes are essential to any bread lovers out there or any small-time bakers.
Bread boxes ultimately slow down the process that causes bread to mold and will prevent the amounts of condensation that may affect the quality of the bread.
This, in turn, allows the bread to stay at a higher quality for long and will mean that you can make yourself a sandwich whenever you like!
You can find bread boxes in lots of stores and on lots of websites worldwide, you just need to pick the right design for you!
