To be fair, the electric mixer craps out about half way through during the first mix attempt (cheap ass hand mixer).. so yeah, mostly it's by hand either way (which is why I ditched it on the second attempt). In any case, we're now doing this 2-3 times a week to keep fresh bread in the house. We just wrap it in plastic wrap and then throw that in a ziploc. Keeps it nice and soft for at least a couple days (dunno how long we could take it... it never lasts long enough to check!) lol