Why a croissant from us costs ₹140
Three days, 27 layers, a lot of butter and a baker’s whole morning: what goes into the price.
How to store a sourdough loaf in a humid town
Cloth, not plastic. Cut side down. And when to slice and freeze, if four days is more than you need.
In Puducherry the air is wet for most of the year, and that changes how bread should be kept. A sourdough crust is dry and the crumb is moist; in a sealed plastic bag the two trade places within a day, and the crust turns leathery while mould finds the damp.
Keep the loaf in the paper bag it came in for the first day, then move it to a cotton or linen bag. Store it cut side down on a wooden board, which keeps the open face from drying out. Away from the stove, the window and the fridge: the fridge is the worst place for bread, because the starch firms up fastest at fridge temperature.
Our country loaf keeps well for three to four days this way, the seeded and ragi loaves for five. By day three, toast it rather than eating it plain. A dry crust revives in a hot oven: run the loaf quickly under the tap, then bake for eight minutes at 200 °C.
If you will not finish it in time, slice it on the second day and freeze the slices in a zip bag with the air pressed out. They go straight from the freezer into a toaster or a hot pan. Frozen slices keep well for a month. Do not freeze a whole loaf unless you can thaw it in one go; refreezing ruins the crumb.
