One week and not a single piece of bread is moldy.
I’m surprised because I’m sure I’ve had mold develop in less than a week before…but that may have to do with it currently being the dead of winter (21°C when we’re home; 16°C at night and dry enough that lip balm has become a necessity) and not summer (24°C and humid in my house).
Here are some action shots of your favourite players, which all made their best-before dates.
WonderBread
In the plastic bag, this childhood favourite is still soft and spongy. In paper, of course, not so much, but still edible for at least four days.
“Baked in-store”
Nobody’s favourite preservative-laden budget bread is also holding up well, despite having a shorter purported shelf-life than Wonder™.
Artisan
The slices in the plastic bag are noticeably drier than the others; it might have been edible up to about day six. The slices in the paper bag dried out fast – after only a few days. This is certainly consistent with my experience forgetting to seal up bread from the market and being forced to turn it into homemade croutons.
Homemade
It’s less dense than the artisan loaf but went crusty about the same rate. It also curled into weird shapes as it dried, unlike the other slices.
What have we learned so far?
- How “fresh” bread feels depends more on how it’s stored (plastic vs. paper) than whether or not it contains preservatives or “non-bread” ingredients.
- No bread went moldy after 7 days
[…] they sat in plastic and paper bags at room temperature in my dining room, doing their bready thing. A week in, all four – preservatives or not – were mold-free. Between days 7 and 10 fuzzy blue […]