Breadbox questions

[cakewench]

Anyone else here use one of these? It's a typical style, with a rolltop lid. Doesn't seal tightly at all, but that has never been an issue, until now.

Our last bread (we make our own, in our machine) got moldy within just a day or two.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to avoid this? I would really like to avoid storing it in our tiny European fridge. I guess I would just like to know if there is something we should be wrapping the bread in? Sitting it on?

Thanks!

[GG Mora]

What's the weather been like in Germany? Hotter and more humid than usual? That would cause the bread to mold faster. Try cleaning the inside of the box very well with bleach or some other anti-bacterial agent. If there are residual mold spores in the box, they'll keep latching onto whatever bread you put in it. Whatever bread we put in our bread box, which sounds quite like yours, is in some sort of bag, either plastic or waxed paper. Even so, this time of year it just molds very quickly due to the weather.

[Wendy DeBord]

Hum..........I've got an issue at work that I've wanted to mention to my chef but I'm not an expert enough on breads to handle the questions he'll have and prove the why's......so far I've avoided mentioning this. This issue is our bread always seems stale to me. If you make a sandwich the bread crumbles as you eat it. If the bread is grilled it's much better.

They store the sandwich breads in the cooler, every place I've worked at seems to. I know the reccomendation is holding fresh bread at room temp. or freezing to hold bread, etc.... BUT I can't give the exact science as to WHY holding in the cooler isn't reccomended.....other then it ruining a nice crust.

GG Mora your post has my interest peaked. Does a refridgerator promote staling because there are mold spores floating around in them? Anyone have the exact science why refridgeration isn't reccomended for breads?

[GG Mora]

GG Mora your post has my interest peaked. Does a refridgerator promote staling because there are mold spores floating around in them?

I don't think staling has anything to do with mold. Two separate issues.

[chefpeon]

Mold and staling are only similar in that both ruin a perfectly good loaf of bread.

From what I have learned, refrigeration promotes bread staling (but is a mold retardant), because the act of refrigeration is not that is keeps food cold, but rather, removes heat.

In the process of removing heat from food, it also draws out moisture, hence staling the

bread much faster. That is why you see condensation on refrigerator coils....because the

process of refrigeration removes heat and moisture from foods. This is my basic understanding

of refrigeration......if I remember right.

If you want to keep your bread mold free and don't mind it being a bit stale, refrigerate it.

But I believe you either keep it at room temp or freeze it. I like to freeze mine and then

throw it in the micro for just a few seconds for a quick thaw. Or I toast it.

But even more lucky for me, I have a 15 year old stepson who lives on bread and cheese, so I can't even keep a loaf in the house for more than two days. Viva la teenage eating habits!

[Woods]

Sinclair,

McGee has a whole section in On Food and Cooking on the whys and wherefors of breads becoming stale. If you don't have the book I'll try to give you a synopsis.

Woods

[KarenS]

You should also store your bread in paper- not plastic whenever possible, so that it can "breathe". I f you have a whole loaf with part of it cut off, put the cut side down on a wooden cutting board for the same reason.

[cakewench]

GG Mora- very humid. We moved to Amsterdam recently, and it is (as to be expected) moist here. We haven't had problems with the last few breads we have made here in Amsterdam, though, so I didn't mention the change in location..

Thanks for the recommendations. We did clean out the breadbox, and it's been open to dry (ha, ha) over the weekend. I've now made a new bread, and we shall see how that goes.

Our typical storage is to place it, sliced side down, on a piece of parchment paper, inside the box. We'll see how our new, clean, dry box goes. I think I'd like a nice paper bag, but I haven't really seen them over here much.

Interesting observation which you can comment on if it seems to warrant it: The bread with the mold problem managed to grow the mold over the period of hours. It was amazing, really. We had both had bread for breakfast (yes, peon, we have similar eating habits to your son over here! Bread and cheese is a common meal... ) and there was no mold then. Then, in the evening, we went to pack up our bread for our weekend trip back to Deutschland, and it was fairly thoroughly molded. Mold on a corner of the sliced bit, and mold throughout the rest. (if you looked carefully, which we obviously did, you could see slight fuzziness in the little bread holes)

I'm sure it doesn't help that our preferred bread is a sunflower/linseed/other seed bread. It seems like the seeds would retain more moisture than regular bread. Again, though, it hasn't been an issue before.

Okay. I'll stop now. I just do hate wasting perfectly good bread, especially when we were eating it right on schedule and everything!

I appreciate all of the input, btw.

[Wendy DeBord]

Woods, I don't own McGee's book. Yes please, if you have a moment I would like to know the scientific answer. Thanks.

[memesuze]

According to Shirley Corriher on page 93 of Cookwise, the "long, straight starch in bread, called amylose, changes to a hard crystalline form near refrigerator temperatures. Bread will actually stay softer longer at room temperature than refrigerated, but it is more likely to mold." She recommends freezing or room temp storage, emulsifiers such as egg yolks to slow staling, acidic doughs, and breads made from doughs that have spent a night in the refrigerator.

However she points out that the changing form of the amylose is only part of the question, which still needs more answers. Breads made with starters or prepared with cold rises also have longer shelf life, but it is unknown whether it's the acids produced by the bacteria, the strain of yeast or some other factor slowing staling.

Mold inhibitors include cinnamon, raisin juice concentrate, and raisin pulp.

Edited August 31, 2004 by memesuze (log)

[chefpeon]

Gee, I thought my answer was sort of kind of scientific......

although I didn't use any five dollar words......

hmmmmm....refrigustaloxulose......how's that?

[GG Mora]

hmmmmm....refrigustaloxulose......how's that?

:snort of deep amusement:

[cakewench]

peon, if it matters any, I found your answer very informative. In particular, I appreciated the description of the refridgeration process. I like learning about stuff like that, and expanding my knowledge beyond "drr, things go in, they come out cold."

Freezing is what I did with bread in the US, and I might do it again if we ever get a house over here with a freestanding freezer. Unfortunately, with the tiny fridge we have now, the freezer compartment is miniscule. Yes, in keeping with the theme, it is smaller than a breadbox. ha-ha.

Best freezing advice I've heard came from a friend of mine with several children. She stores the big loaf of sandwich bread in the freezer, and pulls the frozen pieces out in the morning to make lunch sandwiches. She says it's easier to spread er, spreads on them, among other benefits.

[alligande]

This is for sinclair, at my restauraunt I bought artisan style bread almost daily for sandwiches mostly, being english it was normal for me to keep the bread out of the walkin, but my American kitchen staff, had a very hard time with this concept. Everynew cook put the bread in the cooler. and basically ruined it! The dry air in the cooler dries the bread out. We got 2 days only from the breadas it was, My policy was to Day dot the bread when it came in and at the end of the day the fresh bread went in the freezer. We used the frozen bread as back up. When the bread came out of the freezer it was marked and at the end of the day set aside for croutons etc. The second day the bread was not as good, but still better than your average sandwich. Unfourantly bead management becomes a real pain, but serving stale bread was always one of my fears.