Making homemade bread last longer?

[brickie in oz]

Making homemade bread last longer?

Ive "almost" mastered bread making, my next quest is making it last longer before it goes stale?

I make normal white bread with dried yeast, sugar etc, nothing fancy, but it tastes good.

Are there any tips to making it last longer before it goes stale?

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

Sourdough naturally last longer and tends not to stale like yeast-ed bread. The freezer works well to store whole loaves just wrap up tight and leave it in the bag while thawing. the fridge is a bad bread storage place.

If your looking for chemical or additives to preserve the bread longer like the stuff on the store shelf , I'm not the person to ask.

I tend not to bake yeast-ed for just that reason.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

How long does sour dough bread last before it goes off?
Maybe Im storing mine wrong as it sits on the bench before we ...arhum.....eat it (chuck it out to the chooks).

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

For me it's about a week during the summer before it goes moldy. Then it a dog treat. But like anything fresh you will notice a difference as time goes by. By day 4 it's good toast, french bread, bread pudding. Or it can be incorporated into your next loaf of bread as an ingredient.

Now sourdough is a commitment because your dealing with a live entity so you will need to tend to it regularly. You need to think of it as another kid in the house or a new pet. Nothing better in my opinion. My pizza dough is sourdough as well so I'm hooked.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

You need to think of it as another kid in the house

No thanks, we just got rid of the last one and are empty nesters....

[Lburou]

Hello

I was watching Alton Brown's Good Eats show last week. He talked about making dinner rolls. In the explanations, he mentioned using oil and butter in the dough to allow it to last longer before spoiling -affectively sealing the crust to air.

FWIW, during a lecture by an expert in Alzheimer's, he mentioned that the 'preservatives' in many foods are the kinds of antioxidants that might protect us a bit from Alzheimer's.....He was not talking about oil and butter, I'm sure, but you get the point.

Preservatives in food don't scare me one little bit.

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

Don't get me started on "Preservatives", "Hormones", "Genetically altered foods"

If I could eat a Twinky 10 years after it was made I don't think I would want to. But that is the food being forced upon us. My personal thoughts is all the tampering with the food we eat it is the primary reason for the obesity rate going through the roof.

Sorry my rant is over. I cook as healthy as I can with fresh real food and try to avoid the un-natural additives.

By the way oils and butters also change the crust and crumb of bread. So if you want a crusty crust don't use butter or oil. If you want Wonder Bread, butter and oil is the way to go. I would not think it would add longevity by much.

[Lburou]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

Don't get me started on "Preservatives", "Hormones", "Genetically altered foods"

If I could eat a Twinky 10 years after it was made I don't think I would want to. But that is the food being forced upon us. My personal thoughts is all the tampering with the food we eat it is the primary reason for the obesity rate going through the roof.

Sorry my rant is over. I cook as healthy as I can with fresh real food and try to avoid the un-natural additives.

By the way oils and butters also change the crust and crumb of bread. So if you want a crusty crust don't use butter or oil. If you want Wonder Bread, butter and oil is the way to go. I would not think it would add longevity by much.

I knew the remark about preservatives would be a hot button to some.

We prepare most of the food we eat from scratch too. I'm just not buying into some of the reasoning out there against 'preservatives'. I'm really not picking a fight over this subject Faith, but some of the preservatives do a good imitation of anti-oxidants in your system.

I'd give $5 for a twinkie made the way they were made when I was little

[Faith In Virginia]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

I'm not upset with your remark, I'm just upset with the food situation. In the name of profit and mass production people are doing scary things to our food. Yet for some reason we the public are not informed what they are doing.

Yes I have had my share of twinkies but not since I was a kid. Perhaps that is why I grew to 12 feet tall and have three eyes and green skin...LOL

[Laurentius]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

Hi Brickie,

Rule of storage, white bread plastic baggies, sourdough paper bags. I make mainly sourdough which I eat differently depending on age. Fresh, sandwich, cheese, sardines, spreads. A few days old toasted in a fry pan with butter. A week old as a sop for stews and soups. It generally last about 10 days, but most of the time it only last about 4 days then I'm baking more. Friends like to drop by with a bottle of red or a few beers and cheese to go along with the bread I have on hand. My oven is on a hills and can be seen from a long distance, so if they notice smoke thaey will drop by in a few days

[brickie in oz]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

I got a plastic container with a snap lock lid and the bread lasts ages, it now goes moldy before it goes hard.

[david s]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

You can also try bread improver, although I have no idea what's in it.

[brickie in oz]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

Ive tried it and it makes no difference, main ingredient, wood ash.

[texassourdough]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

Sourdough is naturally long-lasting. White bread is notoriously not. Baguettes are good for no more than a day or so. Freezing works really well on sourdoughs and should give you a "workable" product with white bread. Don't refrigerate it! That only accelerates the demise. Staleness is supposedly, in part, due to water migrating out of starch granules, allowing them to "crystallize". Nuking it in the microwave rehydrates the starch BRIEFLY making it okay for a few minutes before it really gets dry and stale. There is little you can do to stop staling. It is a natural chemical process dictated by temperature, humidity, and such. Keeping it moist and warm will help with staling - and accelerate mold.

In Italy we bought an eight pound loaf of Pane Casareccio Genzano that was quite edible a week after baking. Yeah, it was a bit stale, but it made great crostini, bread salad, and bread crumbs for stuffing things. Part of the beauty of sourdough is learning to use it to the end.

Good luck!
Jay

[Lburou]

Re: Making homemade bread last longer?

I ran into this link while researching 'dough enhancer'. What do you all think?