Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Bread That Last 60 Days Cuts Waste

Going through the news on the BBC can turn up some items you don't expect to read.  Its essential "Britishness" adds a dimension that one living in South Florida wouldn't expect to read about. 

After all, when is the last time you were at a proper Tea?

The problem with that Tea is that some things turn stale after a while, so the recipes that are traditional in one area, any area, may not work in another.   Sourdough Bread in San Francisco is phenomenal, but the yeasts that grow in that cool and wet climate would not do well in South Florida because of the warm and wet climate we have here.  As a result, "real" San Francisco Sourdough Bread is different than Sourdough that is baked in Chicago, Philadelphia, or anywhere else without their micro-climate.

Instead, we have different things like molds and iguanas that fall from the trees when it gets cold.

Bread seems to turn stale faster here, as a result of our climate. 

Someone here in the US is working on a solution to that, and they claim that by the use of Microwaves that are somehow "modulated" in a special way, you can get a loaf of bread to last 60 days without spoilage.

I would expect that a 60 day old bread slice would be dried out whether it is mold free or not.   Plus the occasional lizard that sneaks into the house might have a sample. 

The Bread Box isn't all that practical when you live here as a result.

The reason why bread doesn't turn stale is that commercial bread bakeries often pump their recipes full of an alphabet soup of chemicals.  They change the flavor of the bread, and you end up with something with an odd taste, or no taste at all.  But it will last more than a day or three which is something that I can't really say about my own breads that I bake at home, or some of the wonderful artisan breads that you can get when you step away from that stuff that is in a plastic bag with polka dots on it.

Of course they never consulted the people who make the bread for Mc Donald's hamburgers.  There's a rather famous, or infamous, study where someone took Fries and a Mc Donald's hamburger and left it on a plate.

For 12 years.

It was untouched visibly.

Not even the bugs in the house would go near the stuff.  It dried out, looks normal, but has an odd smell about it. This link talks about a 12 year old Mc Donald's Hamburger.

I think I'll stick with making my own bread rolls.   Much better for me.  As for the microwave technique, it's "in testing" and may be rolled out eventually. 

With butter.

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