Harvey striking the pose. ©2010 Harveytheturtle.com
A reader sent in a note about a particular problem she’s having.
I hope we can have deep, meaningful, interesting conversations. Like now, other than the warming up of the planet, I am overwhelmed by the fact that my bread is delicious just out of the oven and it gets rock hard as soon as it cools down. Harvey, help! – Rebeca
I know what you mean, Rebeca. Being a box turtle, I need my food to be soft and pliable. So, I researched your problem and I have come up with a potential solution.
It sounds like your bread gets stale rather quickly. That happens, as far as I know, when the humidity evaporates too fast, leaving it very dry and hard. This is normal for homemade bread. The key is trapping the moisture, but not too much.
One potential solution is storing the bread in a plastic bag. Be aware that if you trap all the moisture by putting it in a plastic bag, the bread may be preserved fresh longer but then after a couple days it just feels and tastes kind of damp. I’d rather have dry, stale bread than wet, stale bread! Others have complained of mold growth on bread placed in plastic bags, though I’ve never had this problem because my family eats the bread faster than mold can be noticed.
A second solution is storing the bread in a brown paper bag. The color of the bag blocks out sunlight, and the paper allows some moisture to escape. This prevents mold growths and the problem of wet-stale bread. The bread will still become stale – and at a faster rate than if stored in plastic bags. However, the process will be slowed by 1-2 days.
A third solution to bread becoming stale is to invite friends and family (and turtles) so that you can all eat it no more than a few hours after it’s made! I would put it in a brown paper bag until then.
All bread gets stale, so don’t despair when the same happens to your bread. It doesn’t mean it’s bad bread. In fact, the store-bought bread that doesn’t get hard very fast isn’t as good as homemade bread!