Q. Does bread stay fresher longer if kept on the counter or in the refrigerator?

A. On the counter, says Brian Burke, a food manager with University Housing at UW-Madison. "We have been operating for a number of years on the principle that bread should be held at room temperature or frozen. Refrigeration will tend to dry it out, and that will happen before the bread would spoil on the counter."

And dry bread is hard bread, he adds.

Burke, who helps University Housing serve 15,000 meals a day during the school year, says freezing at 0 degrees Fahrenheit eventually will dry out the bread, but "it will not compromise the quality of the product if done for a reasonable period," meaning at least a couple of weeks.

— Produced in cooperation with University Communications

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