Refrigeration of Baked Goods

[Andy M.]

To refrigerate or not to refrigerate. That is the question.

At least in this thread, I’m talking about baked goods.

There is always a difference of opinion regarding refrigeration of baked goods in our home. SO wants to refrigerate everything while I’m more selective. When she bakes, I don’t argue with her and we end up with refrigerator and freezers stuffed to the gills with cookies, muffins, and cakes. Prime example are her anise cookies and pizzelles. I would keep them at room temperature. She won’t.

I see no reason to refrigerate cookies of any kind, assuming they are not sandwiched with ice cream. Also, no chills for cakes with normal frostings, quick breads, muffins, fruit pies and similar.

I do refrigerate any custard-based desserts such as cheesecake, cream pies, lemon meringue, etc.

So I’m asking, what types of baked goods you refrigerate and which you keep at room temperature.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Pretty much as you do Andy....Generally no refrigeration except for the obvious ones you mention...On rare occasions we will freeze a few brownies, chess squares, cookies etc for short periods of time....

 

[joesfolk]

Anything dairy based I refrigerate. But not much else. If I make a quick bread that is very moist and the air temp is high I might refridgerate it to slow spoilage. We often can't eat them fast enough to prevent that. I do freeze baked goods. I don't notice a significant difference between the pre-frozen stuff I've baked and the fresh baked. But refridgerating bread and such can make it go stale faster, or so it seems to me.

 

[AnnieDrews]

Yep, refrigerate dairy based, although that causes me to have to bring to room temp to serve. I did a banana cake w/ cream cheese frosting (OMGosh DELICIOUS, but that's another story) this weekend. After refrigeration the icing was so firm that I had to let it sit out for a while (1-2 hours) to become soft again.

I have had banana bread go moldy because it didn't get eaten quickly enough. Now I try to bake two smaller loaves instead of one giant one and keep one refrigerated or frozen until ready to use.

Choco chip cookies, etc. I keep at room temp.

Fudge gets kept in the fridge. It gets eaten slowly so I like to keep it fresh as long as possible.

Fruit desserts....refrigerate.

 

[Andy M.]

...Fruit desserts....refrigerate.

So you would refrigerate an apple or blueberry pie?

 

[AnnieDrews]

If I wanted it to last more than 24 hours, I think I would.

I'll just say that I prefer most of these things at room temp. I would just store them and bring to room temp. to serve. Banana bread and that type of thing I keep out (wrapped, of course) at room temp. if it is just going to be a few days.

 

[LPBeier]

Andy, I agree with most of what you and others say. However, As Annie mentioned, there are exceptions. Frank Z was asking me awhile back why his lemon bread tasted rancid after a few weeks. I told him because of the moisture in the lemon syrup. Not wanting to eat it cold, I suggested what I do with any moist loaves - slice the loaf and put in fridge or freezer. Just remove the slices you want about 15 minutes before you want to eat it.

You'll find recipes for cookies, cakes and other baked goods telling you to store up to two weeks in a cool dry place, the fridge or freezer. Unless the cookies contain uncooked dairy products, fruit or are extremely moist, you can leave them out of (or in) the cold as you want.

 

[Kayelle]

I'm like your SO Andy....everything baked goes in the fridge.

But refridgerating bread and such can make it go stale faster, or so it seems to me.

I've found just the opposite to be true JF. For me, if I leave bread out, it's not fit for eating in a couple of days.

 

[MostlyWater]

My house is cool now, but in hot summer, baked goods mold quickly. Keep that in mind.

 

[babetoo]

only put same stuff as andy in the fridg. hardly ever freeze any baked goods. no room in freezer. some things end up in the trash but not often. usually give to guy next door if i can't eat before it goes bad. aslo give to granddaughter. i do freeze bread, store bought or home baked.

 

[Katie H]

I'm like your SO Andy....everything baked goes in the fridge.


I've found just the opposite to be true JF. For me, if I leave bread out, it's not fit for eating in a couple of days.

It lasts that long in your house!!

I do pretty much as Andy does and don't worry about the freshness of what gets left out as nothing lasts very long around here.

I make ALL of our baked goods, have for decades, and have never had any challenges with spoilage or freshness regardless of how it was stored.

Because it can be very hot here, I typically keep all loaf bread that we are eating in the refrigerator. I make a LOT of bread, so the remainder goes in the freezer for another time. However, I don't make so much that the freezer gets overloaded. Right now there are a couple of dozen cinnamon rolls, about a dozen orange swirl rolls, some loaves of French bread, two loaves of potica (a sweet bread), a loaf of oatmeal toasting bread and a loaf of bacon-and-egg bread.

We have a few slices of pain de mie left in the fridge and, tomorrow, I'm going to make regular loaf bread as we're totally out of that. I made hamburger buns yesterday and expect they won't last through Thursday.

 

[pacanis]

I'm along your line of thinking, Andy. Not much goes in the fridge unless I prefer it cold. I just try to use it up quickly, but occasionally I'll have homemade bread mold and I know I probably could have gotten another day or two out of it if it was refrigerated, but refrigeration dries it out too much.

 

[LindaZ]

So you would refrigerate an apple or blueberry pie?

I refigerate the leftovers - I use fresh fruit so it doesn't keep as well at room temp - but usually it's gone in a day or so. Anything with milk, cream, creamcheese etc I refigerate - cheesecake etc. I don't refigerate or freeze cookies - they're generally gone pretty quick. I store them in a freezer bag and they stay pretty fresh. I do refigerate bread, it doesn't spoil as quick.

 

[Alix]

I think refrigerating cookies etc would be like refrigerating bread. Regardless of what's in it, once its baked its fine on the counter. I only refrigerate dairy stuff too. NOTHING in our house lasts more than a few days.

 

[Andy M.]

I don't eat a lot of bread so I freeze the loaf. Then I pop two slices into the toaster when I need bread for a sandwich. If I don't want toast, I use the microwave.

 

[merstar]

I never refrigerate baked goods, because it dries them out. I slice up leftover cake, bread, etc., individually wrap them, then put them into a freezer ziplock bag, and store in the freezer. I wrap and store cookies the same way, and reheat at 300 F before serving.

 

[niquejim]

This will be the Cliff notes(in this case Jim notes) version of the American Institute of Baking's, bread baking 101

Yeast products should never go in the fridge, it definitely makes it stale faster. It is because of the science of the gluten formation. Think of the dough when it comes off the mixer, it has a tight elastic structure. This will relax somewhat as the dough rises and the structure will stretch beyond it's limit by the moment that the bread comes out of the oven. That is why bread is nearly uncut-table when first out of the oven. The bread isvery loose due to the moisture trying to escape from the cells while they are expanded to their fullest. From that moment on the carbohydrate strands begin to contract to try to capture the moisture within the cells(only a small % is saved by the time the bread is perceived as stale). This process is almost entirely temperature dependent in that the process moves faster the cooler it is, although the process slows to a near halt once freezing is introduced). You can release the captured moisture by microwaving a stale piece of bread for a few seconds. The bread is soft again but only for a few seconds

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Aside from dairy based goods, I only refrigerate one thing, the kalamata olive rolls I get from The Good Food Store. Moist kalamatas and really good rolls, that I hate to lose. I can only get over there about once a week and only buy them 6 at a time. They go moldy on me in two days, so I put them in the fridge.

 

[taxlady]

I have read that bread goes stale faster in the fridge, but I don't find that it does. Maybe that is because I put an air tight clip on the plastic bread bags.

 

[babetoo]

i bought some bread bags on amazon. i don't loose as much bread or baked goods when i use them. they are reusable and not very expensive. throwing away food is expensive.