Anyone notice supermarket bread now lasts forever?

[Riverwolf]

Well, maybe not forever, but it sure takes a long time to get hard or mold.
I used to have to freeze half loaves because it would go bad before we could eat it.
Now, bread, tortillas, buns, etc, just seem to sit in the bread box and never mold or even get hard.
Sometimes the only clue is a funny smell?

[Dru Edwards]

I haven't noticed but I always freeze my bread. Putting peanut butter on frozen bread in the morning makes for a great lunch sandwich.

[mc1]

Calcium Propionate is a common preservative in bread.

It's best to not store your bread in the fridge.

Sometime we get bakery bread that's dusted with flour, and after a few days I can't quite tell if that's flour or white mold. I hate that.

The toaster is perhaps man's greatest invention after sliced bread.

If I could pick any one food and magically make it healthy, it would be bread.

[Tico]

Yeah, store-bought bread leaves a lot to be desired.
I bake my own whole wheat bread.
Not only that, I mill my own wheat flour from the wheat kernels moments before using it.
Store-bought "whole" wheat flour is actually not whole wheat.
They remove parts of the kernel so it doesn't go rancid in a week or so.

My bread has no preservatives, so it gets hard in 2 or 3 days, so we freeze most, and scarf up the first loaf.

To leverage the time it takes I make 6 loaves of dough at once.
I bake 3 that day and keep 1 of those in the fridge.
Then I slice and seal the other two baked loaves put them in Ziplock bags, suck out the air, and freeze.
I have almost a month to thaw individual frozen slices in the toaster - they come out perfect.

The other 3 loaves of dough get frozen right after kneading before rising (for a smaller ball of dough), again in Ziplock bags.
When needed, I thaw em overnight, knead, rise, & bake.

So for one preparation time I get 6 loaves (about a month) of the softest, freshest, healthiest whole wheat bread imaginable.
It's not that much trouble once you get the process down - and I find it a very relaxing hobby.
Then there are a zillion recipe variations to experiment with.
Fun fun fun, and yum yum yum.

[robj144]

Maybe... I find that after about 5 days, it's not hard, but it's kind of stale. It's kind of edible, but not that great.

[Neil K Walk]

What's changed? I recall an uncle often talking about how he liked eat S.O.S. I would think week old wonder bread would make a great shingle.

[Dru Edwards]

Any 100% whole wheat bread fans here? That's all I've bought over the past 6-7 years.

[Tico]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Any 100% whole wheat bread fans here? That's all I've bought over the past 6-7 years.

Yes, whole grain anything is much better for you.

[rokdog49]

I like “Dave’s Killer Bread “which comes in a variety of products.
I also like Brownberry’s “Health Nut”.
These are whole grain breads and are very good

http://www.daveskillerbread.com/our-...our-products-1

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Tico

Yes, whole grain anything is much better for you.

+1. I only buy whole grain cereal now too. Much better for you.

[Dirk Hofman]

There is nothing like fresh-baked bread, from home or the bakery, but we really like "Dave's Killer Bread" if you haven't tried it.

http://www.daveskillerbread.com/21-w...ains-and-seeds

Pretty cool story too, the company hires a lot of ex-cons, giving them a second chance. But the bread sells itself. No, it's not super cheap, but to me it's well worth it.

[Tico]

Thanks Dirk, I think I've seen that at Costco.
I'll try it, on your recommendation.
I'm sure it's great.

But I am over-the-top-happy with my baking thang.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Tico

Thanks Dirk, I think I've seen that at Costco.
I'll try it, on your recommendation.
I'm sure it's great.

But I am over-the-top-happy with my baking thang.

Oh, I have no doubt your baked bread is the bomb! My mom used to make home baked bread, it was so nice. As a Belgian, she couldn't accept what was on offer in America in the 70s.

[dirkronk]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

As a Belgian, she couldn't accept what was on offer in America in the 70s.

My grandmother (Opoe) was Belgian as well, but she never had to make do with store-bought bread. My grandfather (Opa) was a Dutchman and a master pastry chef, and brought home loaves of serious bread from the bakery where he worked. Pumpernickel, dark rye, Jewish rye, Dutch rolls (crusty outside, fluffy inside), egg bread (think brioche taken to a ridiculously yellow eggy/buttery extreme), and more.

All the years I knew him, I only recall him badmouthing cheap grocery store ("balloon") bread. However, he did buy some, but only one time...he'd retired, taken up fishing, and was making homemade stink bait to lure catfish. I was there for the event: he'd take a slice, tear off the crust, roll the wet doughy middle up with limburger cheese and other similar stinky substances to make little balls that he would later press onto a treble hook. The bait worked well, but the homemade aspect didn't last past his first attempt at making it...Opoe took one whiff of the stuff he was making in "her" kitchen (the professional bakery was his domain, the home kitchen was hers) and Opa was banished to the garage for any further concocting.

As a kid, I'd eat Opa's bread (he'd give us assorted loaves when we visited on Sundays) and love it, but my mom would also buy grocery store loaves as required by household consumption, so my tastebuds became acclimated to less flavorful bread as well.

Dirk

[Ben M.]

Preservatives.

My wife makes homemade bread. Out of the oven It’s a little slice of heaven in your mouth. I mean really just amazing.

After about 2-3 days it gets chewy and is about as easy to swallow as a stack of saltine crackers.

There are videos out there on the inter webs of someone getting a burger from McDonald’s and just letting it sit. A year later it still looks the same.

My sister found a half eaten bag of apple slices from a happy meal in her car that had been there for months. They weren’t rotten or even a little bit brown.

It’s pretty scary what we put in our bodies without even knowing it.