How To Store Focaccia: Focaccia bread is a spongy and crispy food option for all the people who love baking. But are you worried if your pack of focaccia bread can go stale within a few hours instead of staying good for days?
Well, in this article we will share with you some amazing storage tips to keep your focaccia dough and bread fresh for as long as possible and also teach you how to reheat focaccia bread at the time you plan to finally have them. With that being said, let’s jump right into it.
- How To Store Focaccia?
- How to keep focaccia warm?
- Does Focaccia Bread Need to Be Refrigerated?
- How to store focaccia dough in the fridge?
- Can You Freeze Focaccia Bread?
- How Long Does Focaccia Last?
- How to Reheat Focaccia Bread?
- FAQs on Storing Focaccia Bread
How To Store Focaccia?
Storing focaccia bread to keep it fresh for the longest time requires an air-free storage option so that it remains soft as well as doesn’t dry out. A dark, air-tight container or a glass jar will suit the best here. If you are storing it inside a plastic wrap make sure you put the wrap inside a paper bag to keep the crust moist as well as soft for a long. You can also add an extra layer of aluminum foil which will enhance the air barrier and keep your bread fresh inside the freezer as well.
You can also consider refrigeration and freezing as some good alternative options. A pro tip here is when you cut your focaccia bread, make sure you start from the middle and then cut a slide from either side. This will not only allow you to use up the space effectively but also you’ll never have an exposed end.
Room Temperature: The best method to store focaccia is to keep it in a wrap or in an airtight container and preserve at room temperature. To make your job easy you can even cut the bread into small pieces and then wrap them using aluminum foil. You can preserve focaccia for up to 2-3 days in this process.
Freezer: Cut the focaccia into square pieces and flash freeze them. Keep the pieces on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and make sure they have space between them. Now keep the baking sheet in the freezer for around 2-3 hours. Keep the frozen focaccia in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and then store in freezer bags.
How to keep focaccia warm?
Once you have baked and got your focaccia bread ready you can leave it inside the oven itself to keep it warm for a considerably long time. You can either use the residual heat or just turn on the oven to its lowest setting which will work for you and keep your bread warm for about an hour, soft and not dried out.
You can also alternatively use a bread warmer to keep your focaccia warm on the table. It’s nothing but a basket with a special stone placed in the bottom that can be warmed inside the oven and can hold the heat for up to 30 to 45 minutes keeping your bread warm for a long time. You can also wrap your bread with paper towels as a short-term solution to keep your bread warm for 15 to 20 days and also retain its moisture.
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Does Focaccia Bread Need to Be Refrigerated?
Though focaccia bread will stay quite well at room temperature for up to a day, you can refrigerate it alternatively so that it doesn’t grow mold prematurely. If the bread that you have bought is plain and made up of water, flour, or olive oil only then you can store it like any other bread and refrigeration won’t be necessary.
But if your bread is fancy and has perishable toppings like fresh cherry tomatoes, olives, veggies, herbs, cheese, mayonnaise, etc., refrigeration is probably the best way to keep them fresh because at room temperature they might rot and attract bacteria. Since these veggies still stay moist after baked, they are highly vulnerable to mold growth too.
How to store focaccia dough in the fridge?
A variety of professional recipes call for you to store the focaccia dough to be used again for the next recipe. If not stored properly it allows the yeast time to develop giving the bread a distinct nutty flavor. This process is also known as cold proofing. So if you are wondering how to store focaccia dough overnight? Here are the steps to do so:
- First, prep your dough by mixing all the ingredients together and make a nicely packed tight ball. To reduce the risk of over-proofing put the dough inside the refrigerator immediately after baking, before it rises.
- Next, find a bowl that is big enough to hold the entire dough once it fluffs up and becomes double in size.
- Next, coat the bowl with olive oil, then put the dough in and then again coat the surface of the bowl with a damp tea towel, dish towel, or plastic wrap.
- Once covered properly, this will allow your dough to sit in the fridge for up to 48 hours without drying out and the olive oil will stop the dough from sticking to your container.
The yeast will build slowly the whole time, so past 48 hours the more you leave it in the fridge, the higher the risk of over-fermentation that will make the dough taste like alcohol. To reduce the over-fermentation of yeast, put the dough inside a sealed bag and dunk it in a bowl full of ice water so that you can effectively get a fast rise until the dough cools down.
If you are interested in bread then you can see the article on How Long Does Banana Bread Last and get to know its shelf life, expiration dates, etc.
Can You Freeze Focaccia Bread?
Yes, like most kinds of bread and baked foods focaccia bread freezes perfectly and stays fresh for a really long time. In case you want to store your focaccia bread for a couple of weeks, simply place it in a freezer-safe bag with all the excess air squeezed out and adjustable towels to collect the excess moisture. In case you want to store it for longer, wrapping it in proper plastic wrap along with foil will be a good idea.
This extra layer of protection will protect the bread from freezer burn and also prevents ice crystals from forming on the outer surface of your bread which renders the bread’s soggy texture. When you plan to thaw it, defrost the bread overnight inside the freezer and then reheat it in the microwave or oven. But one downside of freezing is it slows down the process of yeast formation and your dough will rise much slower than normal.
How Long Does Focaccia Last?
Focaccia bread stays its best and also retains its quality for like 2 to 3 days at room temperature and up to a week in the refrigerator. In case you want to store them for further, freeze them. It is best recommended to freeze the leftovers of your focus bread the day itself when you bought it or baked it.
How to Reheat Focaccia Bread?
Reheating focaccia bread is important when you plan to thaw a frozen one. Defrost the bread overnight first and then follow the steps below:
Reheating Focaccia in the Oven
Place the focaccia bread on a baking sheet and heat uncovered at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 190 degrees Celsius for about 6 to 8 minutes. In case you are reheating slices and not the whole loaf, then limit the time to about 4 to 5 minutes. In case you have no time and have forgotten to preheat the oven, place your bread on a baking sheet and check it after every 10 minutes. In between, you can mist the bread with hot water to keep your bread soft and moist while heating it up.
Reheating Focaccia in the Microwave
Microwave your focaccia bread under a damp dish towel or paper towel for about 30 seconds and check repeatedly. If you see it needs more time then keep it for another 10 to 15 seconds until it’s done. This gives your focaccia bread a soft pillow-like inside texture and an awesome crispy outer texture. The damp towel hack will work if the breed is stale, has hardened, or has gone bad. If the bread is quite recent and fresh then you can skip this step.
Reheating in Toaster
You can also reheat the slices of your focaccia bread in a toaster. Here, you don’t need to do any additional steps of defrosting the bread, just take the bread out from the freezer and directly put it inside the toaster. Just remember one thing here your bread will not only be warm but also super crispy and will have a toasted texture.
Read More: How To Store Zucchini
FAQs on Storing Focaccia Bread
1. How do you store focaccia in the fridge?
To store focaccia inside the fridge, double wrap with the plastic film followed by an aluminum foil and then keep it inside an air-tight container with towels kept at the base to prevent ice from crystallizing on the surface as well as absorbing excess moisture.
2. Why does focaccia need to be refrigerated?
Bread is easily prone to yeast growth and fancy focaccia bread has toppings of veggies and cheese that can easily attract bacteria so refrigeration is necessary to keep them fresh for a long time.
3. How long is focaccia bread good for?
Focaccia bread stays good for about 48 hours at room temperature, a couple of days inside a refrigerator, and weeks inside a freezer.
4. Does focaccia dough need to be refrigerated?
If you are storing a focaccia dough for future recipes or have fancy focaccia with perishable toppings refrigeration is required to stop the decomposition.
Closing Thoughts
Focaccia bread comes in a lot of shapes and forms, and these were some of the most useful tricks to store focaccia properly. A frozen loaf of focaccia takes about 10 to 12 minutes to completely reheat. While reheating them you can alternatively also make a sandwich and toast or microwave all together rather than toasting only the bread itself.
Well, that’s it for today, will meet you super soon till then visit canfoodgobad.com for getting the latest tips on Freeze Pita Bread and other foods.