There are a lot of little things you can do to help make your bread baking experience better. Whether these are ways to save time or how to save a little money, these tips are great to know.

Vegetable bags for proofing

When your bread is proofing, you want to make sure it doesn’t dry out. This is especially tough living in the high desert where the humidity generally hovers in the 10-20% range. The standard of putting a damp tea towel over your proofing basket simply doesn’t work here.

To help keep your proofing dough from drying out, use a vegetable bag! These are the rolls of bags you see hanging by the fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. They’re the perfect size to hold a banneton and are generally pretty clean. I always keep a stash of these bags in my pantry, generally only keeping ones from dry produce (apples, oranges, bell peppers, etc). I also check for holes before using them since you won’t want any air escaping during your proof.

This works whether you’re doing a quick hour long proof at room temperature or if you’re doing an extended, overnight, proof in the refrigerator. You can see from the pics below how I tie off the ends with a clothes pin to keep some space above the dough to allow for rising.

These bags also double as a great way to store your bread in the pantry as they also help your bread from drying out. I typically get about 5 days with my bread before it starts to get questionable, although I usually go through a loaf well before then.