mold on my bread

[goatee]

i bake my own, then bag it and put in bread box on top of the fridge. eventually any bread will get that grey/blue mold forming on it sooner or later. the problem is,, with mine its always sooner.
what gives???

[YetiDave]

How long before it goes mouldy? Home made bread will always turn bad sooner due to it containing no preservatives

[Jim]

Try no bag and move it off the fridge. Moisture and heat are molds friend.

[professorchaos]

Careful. You don't want Ergot poisioning!

[73mountaineer]

Try no bag and move it off the fridge. Moisture and heat are molds friend.

+1, the bag & box are probably holding in humidity & the top of the fridge is a warm area so you are unknowingly giving the mold a wonderful place to settle in and raise a family

[jtb]

I agree about the heat on the top of the fridge.

If you are making a hard loaf crust, you can just leave it out till you cut/break into it. the crust is a pretty good wrapper.

[gearchow]

We tend to eat fresh baked bread real quick. Mass produced bread goes in the fridge in a closed, plastic bag. Not the best environment, but refrigerated bread lasts longer and it still is good as toast. Bakery bread stays in the paper bag on the counter. Just tends to dry out and go stale. I haven't dealt with moldy bread in a long time.

edit: stale sour dough bread makes very nice french toast!

-jim

[goatee]

gotcha... in the cupboard it go's.

[goatee]

baked a loaf thursday, gone for the weekend, come home sunday and it has mold on the outside. it had not beed cut. it was wrapped in a bag. in a bread box, moved off the top of the fridge.

are certain types or brands more prone to mold than others?

[goatee]

been cut,

and it was on kitchen counter

[BrewCommando]

What kind of bread is it and how do you bake it?

Here is a guide on storing bread from the author of the definitive bread baking book:

http://www.grandtimes.com/Bread_Storage.html

The book is this one - it was the single most useful thing I ever got regarding breadmaking:




Here are some of my early attempts. I think these were Italian boules:



This is our go-to bread recipe - the Pain a l'Ancienne, made with cold, wet dough (ferments and rises in the fridge). Messy to make, but tastes wonderful. This is a pic of an early attempt that didn't quite work out. There should be more holes. Can make it well now though.

[tinashubby]

Had to re-read the title of this- I swear I read Mold On My Beard

[maxman]

The book is this one - it was the single most useful thing I ever got regarding breadmaking:

This is an excellent book.
Another one that we use is Beth's Basic Bread book.
Simple recipies, but very good and easy to make.
My wife bakes all of our bread. It goes into a plastic bag (2lb.) that we got from a restraunt supply store.
We keep our bread in our microwave because we have limited storage space.
Not too bad a place, but you have to take everything out when you want to microwave something.
I wish we had more storage in our kitchen.

[Docd]

It may be penicillium....you won't have to worry about gonorrhea

[Lexbomb]

What kind of bag are you wrapping it in? If its in a bread box it doesn't need a bag also.

[saf]

Not sure how often you go through a loaf but you might be able to make the dough and just bake as needed, with a ton of variable I know but worth a chance.

[Slash McCoy]

I only bake what I will use that day and the next. No plastic. Bread from the grocery has lots of preservatives to keep the mold at bay. I remember as a kid bread and tortillas would be growing mold two or three days after bringing it home. Now I live on a boat, a humid environment, and my flour tortillas from the grocery store will keep for weeks if they get misplaced. Better living through chemistry. Anyway, that's why you can't treat your homebaked bread the same way as store-bought.

[Buxwheat]

I keep mine out on the counter top, unwrapped on a cutting board, crumb side down (after slicing). No mold, but will dry out quickly. Once it's too dry then it's time for toast. I primarily bake my loaves as boules so the loaf will stand up with the crumb side down. By the way, do you ever bake your bread in a CI Dutch Oven? Gives it a great crust.

[Go West Young Man]

Four days seems about right for a preservative free loaf to last.

[bakerbarber]

Once you get mold, you need to kill the spores. Four days does sound right, but you may want to use bleach and water to disinfect your surfaces and bread box.

If you keep your windows and doors open sometimes you'll always have mold spores and wild yeast to deal with.

Bread going green is natural.

You can try lowering the pH of your dough a little. Some more sour, or even raisin juice. A little honey in place of any other sugars might help. We use a shot of vinegar for wheat bread.

As long as you don't smell cantaloupe when sniffing your bread or see stringy goopy stuff inside when you slice it you're OK. (Rope)

Mold is part of our environment.