On 1 Nov 2003 at 18:09, Stan J. Lefosi wrote:

> what did I do wrong?

You stored it too long?

Bread has a limited shelf life.

Like all things, bread gets old.

When bread ages, it succumbs to one of two enemies, mold and staling.
Sadly, most things that help prevent one encourage the other. Staling occurs
more rapidly in a dry environment, mold more rapidly in a wet environment.

A rule of thumb is "the longer it takes to make the bread, the longer it will
last." Long slow rises, with bakers yeast, poolish, sponges, or (best of all)
sourdough will tend to create a bread that lasts longer. The sourdough
organisms create chemicals that inhibit both mold and staling, at least for a
while.

The easiest answer is to eat your bread faster, bake less bread at a time, or
both. However, this is not always a realistic option.

If a loaf is more than you can eat in a reasonable amount of time, you might
be tempted to put the bread in the refrigerator. Don't do it! The temperature
and humidity of a refrigerator will cause the bread to dry out and stale very
quickly. It's better to slice the bread into serving sized pieces, separate them
with waxed paper, wrap the whole mess with foil and then a freezer bag and
freeze it. You can pull off serving sized pieces, heat them and serve them.

If your bread has staled, but is still unmolded, you can often re-heat the bread
and it will regain it's freshness, once. Try a 250F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

A friend once suggested that storing bread on top of the refrigerator helped
keep it fresh. I have no idea what is going on, but it seems to help.

Finally, you can put the cut side of a loaf on a cutting board, and then cover
the rest of the loaf with a damp (not wet) cloth. This will keep the bread fresh,
and will help it develop a richer and more complex taste.

Hope this helps,
Mike
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