Why does storing bread in a plastic (grocery) bag keep it fresh longer?

Question

I accidentally stumbled upon this 'trick' a week ago when I forgot about a baguette that I bought for a party and never used. It was half-covered (loosely) by a plastic grocery bag. When I took it out after the week period, the top half (not covered by plastic) was rock hard, but the part inside the plastic bag was still relatively soft.

What biological mechanics are causing plastic grocery bags to keep bread fresh longer? This Q/A discusses storage methods, of which plastic bags are one, but doesn't actually explain why it works the way it does.

I also stumbled up this video where a guy mentions that he also keeps bread in plastic bags, so this isn't an isolated incident.

Answer 1

Water, water-vapor or moisture can't penetrate the plastic bag. Nice tender bread contains a lot of moisture. That moisture, all of it, will evaporate into the relatively dry air in your kitchen if it can. Bread (especially a baguette) depleted of moisture becomes rock hard, as you know. If you cover your bread with a plastic bag, a little moisture still escapes into the air inside the bag, but it can't get out of the bag, and after that you get an equilibrium between soft bread and slightly moist-ish air, and your bread stays pretty nice for a little longer.

The down-side is if you keep it too long, you may get mold taking advantage of the moist conditions in the plastic bag, and you will get moldy bread. Mold doesn't tend to grow in a dry environment (rock-hard bread).

Answer 2

Most people think that stale bread is 'hard dried out bread'. The above question and the answer given by Lorel C is an example of that less than correct perception. The 'rock hard' exposed half baguette in Chris' question has 'dried out'. It has probably only partially gone stale. Most of us know not to store bread in the refrigerator because it goes stale much quicker than at room temperatrure, regardeless of being in a plastic bag or other air-tight container. That refrigerated bread has not dried out, it has gone stale. What happens when bread goes stale is that the starch molecules have crystalized. Drying out and going stale are 2 separate and distinct processes. Drying out is a physical action (evaporatrion), going stale chemical action (crystalization).