Moldy Bread

[scotpens]

Owain Taggart wrote:

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From what I've heard, slicing moldy bread won't keep you safe due to the way spores spread as the bacteria is still there.

Molds are fungi, not bacteria.

teacake wrote:

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Every time I throw something out because there's a bit of mould on the end I think, "if this was in an era of war rations I wouldn't be throwing this out."

When you throw away bread that has a bit of mold on it, you dine with HITLER!

[Roger Wilco]

Freezing bread works very well in my experience, keeping it in the fridge doesn't, but of course I don't live in a climate where that's necessary. And I eat almost only dark bread, maybe it's different for American sandwich bread.

The bread I buy and because of the way I keep it, if I don't use it in time, it gets inedibly hard long before it gets moldy.

[Rhubarbodendron]

yes, same here. It used to get hard before I could eat it up, so now I always buy a big loaf, cut itup and freeze it. This way I can always have as much bread as I just need, without the rest getting hard.
Btw, you can use the hard bread for puddings and souflees or for thickening a sauce or gravy. There's also a recipe for rye bread soup Or you soak it for a while and feed the ducks with it.

In Germany, consumer protection and MDs urgently recommend that you don't eat bread that has gone moldy but throw away the whole loaf. They say that what you see is only a fraction of the fungus while the rest of it may well have spread though the whole bread already and might cause great damage to your liver and kidneys. Sliced bread is more likely to get moldy because of the larger surface. White bread (toast for example) is moister than dark bread (rye) and therefore more likely to develop mold.

[Alidar Jarok]

thestrangequark wrote:

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Actually, refrigerating bread does the exact opposite.

Well, you have to pick your poison. It'll prevent mold (in my experience), but, yes, it'll make it go stale quicker. Freezing it is similar in that regard. But you can toast stale bread, which helps.

[Rhubarbodendron]

^sour dough rye bread freezes rather well. It gets only a tiny bit stale (about as if it were 1-2 days old). I buy it in 6 lbs loaves and freeze it in quarters (not sliced). This way it stays fresher. You can defrost it in the microwave - it's like fresh as long as it's warm.

[Captain Picard.]

Roger Wilco wrote:

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Freezing bread works very well in my experience, keeping it in the fridge doesn't, but of course I don't live in a climate where that's necessary. And I eat almost only dark bread, maybe it's different for American sandwich bread.

The bread I buy and because of the way I keep it, if I don't use it in time, it gets inedibly hard long before it gets moldy.

I used to freeze my bread but I think it takes the flavor out of it.

[gturner]

Couldn't you just spray the loaf with Tinactin, Sporonox, or Fluconizol and get another week out of it?

[Gary7]

I've not found refrigerating bread to make it go stale, if it's sealed up well with minimal air inside the plastic bag. It'll delay it from developing mold, and I have plenty of experience in that. But yes, cooler air can make moisture wick out and make it dry. That's why I try to buy a whole loaf and slice it when I need it.

As for freezing, moisture wicking is more of a problem, so you don't want to leave the bread in there for too long (depending upon how much air you've evacuated from the bag). But I've found that softening it up a little in the microwave prior to toasting tends to achieve a more natural consistency than toasting it frozen.

[thestrangequark]

^It's not the humidity or dryness of the environment, but the temperature that makes it go stale. Bread becomes stale fastest at refrigerator temperatures. Bread doesn't stale because moisture is leaving it -- t's not drying out at all, the chemistry is just changing.

[Owain Taggart]

scotpens wrote:

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Molds are fungi, not bacteria.

You're right. My bad. I meant fungus. Not sure what I was thinking

[scotpens]

Rhubarbodendron wrote:

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In Germany, consumer protection and MDs urgently recommend that you don't eat bread that has gone moldy but throw away the whole loaf. They say that what you see is only a fraction of the fungus while the rest of it may well have spread though the whole bread already and might cause great damage to your liver and kidneys.

Aahhh, bunch of wussies.



TAKE A FUCKIN' CHANCE!!

[Gary7]

thestrangequark wrote:

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^It's not the humidity or dryness of the environment, but the temperature that makes it go stale. Bread becomes stale fastest at refrigerator temperatures. Bread doesn't stale because moisture is leaving it -- t's not drying out at all, the chemistry is just changing.

Then I guess it must also depend upon the particular bread, and whether or not you have sliced it. I have witnessed some bread tending to resist staleness longer than others. I also save the end piece/slice as a kind of "cap" on the end, which seems to help the cut end from going stale.

[Haggis and tatties]

I usually buy a small brown or some form of seeded bread to eat fresh over the week, and a white one for the freezer for a bit of toast now and again.....plus i have started buying those small baguettes you get in packs of four that last months unopened, and you just bung in the oven for 10 mins.

Lovely.

[Sector 7]

junxon wrote:

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you'll be shitting cubes within the hour!!!!!

So that's how they make croutons!

Owain Taggart wrote:

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You're right. My bad. I meant fungus. Not sure what I was thinking

If I had a blinking red light on my palm, I wouldn't be able to think very well either!

[Owain Taggart]

Sector 7 wrote:

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So that's how they make croutons!

If I had a blinking red light on my palm, I wouldn't be able to think very well either!

Haha, nice Especially as the two ideals are in conflict with each other