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Farm Kitchen:  Keeping Homemade bread soft and fresh  |
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Hosanna
True Blue Farmgirl
466 Posts
Hosanna
Alton
Virginia
466 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 4:44:41 PM
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| Ok, so I have pretty much mastered the art of making my own bread. (My husband will only eat home made breads, so I kind of had to......) The first day, it is all soft, and perfect, and the flavor is delicious, and it's just ....mmmmmm.... My issue is, we simply don't eat it that fast. About one loaf per week. And in the summer, I have to keep it in the fridge, in a plastic bag, to keep it from molding. After about a day, the softness is GONE, and the flavor is GONE, and then it's just boring. Mu husband suggested freezing the extra loaf, but I am afraid that will just make it worse. Is it my recipe? (Your basic Amish style recipe.)Am I storing it wrong? Any thoughts? |
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1badmamawolf
True Blue Farmgirl
2199 Posts
Teresa
"Bent Fence Farms"
Ca
USA
2199 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 5:19:33 PM
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I myself eat very little bread, but, when the kids were still home, we would go thru a large loaf or more, a day. So when I make bread now, I break it in thirds, and freeze 2 of the thirds seperatly. The other third in the warm weather is kept in the fridge in a large ziplock with out as much air as I can get out. I have not had any problems with my breads over the years, air will dry it out, and will kill the flavor. Other wise, maybe it is your recipe, try a differant one, and see what happens.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
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peapicker
True Blue Farmgirl
716 Posts
texas
USA
716 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 5:33:28 PM
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| I have had this problem too and ended up making toast out of the dry bread. Now I have a foodsaver and it takes the air out , so I hope it will solve my problem. |
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laurzgot
True Blue Farmgirl
1669 Posts
Laurie
Alvin
Texas
USA
1669 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 5:52:52 PM
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Hosanna, Try to keep as much air out as possible. As the gals have said. When I freeze my bread it's for only a month at least.
Laurie
suburban countrygirl at heart |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jul 24 2009 : 7:02:44 PM
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I would freeze what you can't eat in the first day or two. I haven't got to the point of having THAT problem yet. My crew can down 3 loaves in one day if I let them!
Jenny in Utah
Proud Farmgirl sister #24
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Peacebird
True Blue Farmgirl
89 Posts
Marianne
Afton
Va
USA
89 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 06:02:24 AM
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Did you know that soft ("easy" bread my grandma called it) bread like most folks get in the store is really pretty unnatural? The good crispy crust loaves we make are not only better tasting, they are better for you! They are the traditional bread - and their crisp hard crust is where the old expression about "breaking bread" with friends came from!
chickens clucking, bees buzzing, flowers blooming, all is good! |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 2:20:50 PM
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I have been making the whole wheat bread for years now and still have this problem. Not so much the bread but the rolls. Alot of my friends make the same recipe and their rolls are the softest for days at a time. I even bought the Zojurushi bread maker they all use and still mine are not at all like theirs. Mine are good for a day or two. Everyone seems to like them ok, but I sure like everyone else's better. So I just make bread.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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peapicker
True Blue Farmgirl
716 Posts
texas
USA
716 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 5:39:49 PM
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| I like the crust to be a little harder, but I don't like for the inside to get dry. I find a way to eat it anyway, because I like bread. Hot buttered toast with some homemade jam and I have dessert! Yum |
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OregonGal
True Blue Farmgirl
511 Posts
Chris
No. IL
USA
511 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 7:08:08 PM
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I have been making my basic white bread with 2 T cottage cheese instead of powdered milk, a pinch of
dill weed and oregano, and it makes the bread so very soft. When its fresh out of the bread machine,
I put it in a plastic bag (with lots of air in the bag when the bread is warm) to retain the moisture and that
makes the crust soft. Then when the bread has cooled, I get as much of the air out of the bag as I can.
My dh and I eat a loaf in 3 - 4 days and I don't refrigerate it and it really stays pretty soft. And
the drier, harder bread makes great toast or garlic bread, I think, and its great to eat that kind of bread and
butter with a bowl of nice hot home made soup. |
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peapicker
True Blue Farmgirl
716 Posts
texas
USA
716 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2009 : 7:18:31 PM
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| Chris, thanks for the input. When you get a chance would you post your recipe. I've never thought about puting it in a plastic bag for a while. |
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prairie_princess
True Blue Farmgirl
613 Posts
Elizabeth
Carpenter
WY
USA
613 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2009 : 08:10:49 AM
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chris, do you know if substituting cottage cheese in non-bread machine bread works? that sounds delicious!
as for me, i just put my bread in the fridge and the extra loaf in the freezer. i have to do this in the summer because it molds too fast... i know the bread is cold and drier, but i just toast it for sandwhiches. in the winter it's fine to keep outside in the bread box.
but like marianne said, i think this homeade bread is better for you even if it isn't soft. i think store bought bread is soft because of all the bad stuff in it. these new generations have just grown up on it so we're used to it being soft, think that's how it's supposed to be. but maybe 'real' bread isn't supposed to be soft. not as soft and floppy as store bought stuff, anyway...
"Only two things that money can't buy, that's true love and homegrown tomatoes."
- Guy Clark
"The man who has planted a garden feels he has done something for the good of the world."
- Charles Dudley Warner |
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OregonGal
True Blue Farmgirl
511 Posts
Chris
No. IL
USA
511 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2009 : 10:53:02 AM
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Elizabeth, I think it would work, but I think if it was me and I was making it BY HAND,
I would put the water and cottage cheese in a blender first to puree up the curds, at least a little bit first. It is very good. Yes, me too, I had a difficult time getting away from that soft store boughten bread, but now I have a very difficult time if I have to eat it.
I got the idea of using cottage cheese (sometimes I use yogurt) from a Dill Bread recipe I got from a friend. Here's
the recipe she gave me - it was not for a bread machine, but I cut the recipe in half
and use it in my bread machine.
Cottage Cheese Dill Bread (by hand)
2 pkg. dry yeast (4tsp)
1/2 Cup warm water
2 tsp. sugar
2 C cottage cheese
2T. Minced onion
2T. Dill seed
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 T. sugar
2 eggs
4 1/2 C flour
Sprinkle yeast on warm water and stir in sugar, Set aside.
Combine remaining ingredients and mix well,
Add yeast/water, Knead till smooth and elastic
Place in greased bowl, Cover, Let rise till double.
Punch Down
Knead a few times, Place in 2 well greased pans, Let rise to the top.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or till lightly browned and
sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom of loaf pan.
Makes 2 loaves
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For my plain white bread machine recipe:
1 C water
1 tsp salt (placed in the water)
2 T. cottage cheese or plain yogurt (Placed in the water)
(if I use 2 T powdered milk, it goes on top of the flour)
3 C. flour
2 T. sugar
2 T. Dried chopped onion
pinch of dill weed
pinch of oregano
2 T. margarine or butter
2 t. yeast
It does not matter the order of ingredients on top of the flour
if you are making it at that moment in the machine. The order
of ingredients is more critical if it is timed to start in 6-9-12 hours later.
I'm sure this can be made quite successfully by hand, too.
I have a Westbend bread maker, and I have tried this recipe in a
different bread machine (a Salton), but had very poor results as
the Salton bread machine kneaded the dough to death! So the kind
of bread maker, in my opinion, makes a difference in the recipes used.
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Edited by - OregonGal on Jul 29 2009 11:10:34 AM |
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Farm Kitchen: Keeping Homemade bread soft and fresh |
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Keeping Homemade bread soft and fresh
