Sometimes when you read my blog, do you think I have it all together . . that things never go terribly wrong in my kitchen? This post will prove that I have crazy days in my kitchen.
Sunday morning for breakfast I was fixing hash brown potatoes, bacon, fried eggs and toast. The potatoes were peeled and grated, set aside to drain. I went to slice the bread, thank goodness I did that before the last minute, because it was moldy. Not a problem . . I still had time to make biscuits. Vince said “If we’re having biscuits, I’d like scrambled eggs with cheese.” No problem. Got the biscuits in the oven, fried the hash browns, bacon was ready, served Vince a bowl of scrambled eggs and the bag of grated cheese. He mixed the cheese into his eggs and then realized the cheese was also moldy.
Good grief! Dumped those eggs, made fried eggs for him. After breakfast and the kitchen was halfway cleaned up, I ground the wheat and made two loaves of bread dough.
I haven’t been happy with the dough I’ve frozen, thawed and baked.
We prefer bread that hasn’t been in the fridge but if a loaf of bread is going to get moldy in four days, then it has to go in the fridge.
Let’s hope I don’t have any more problems in the kitchen for a while!
Dora, the quilter says
I recognize it’s been more humid where you live than it is where I live, but I’ve found that since I’ve stopped using sugar in bread and have begun using blue agave syrup that the bread lasts much longer before it molds. I understand that blue agave syrup is metabolized much more slowly than many other types of sugar, but I don’t know if mold spores metabolize it more slowly. In any case, the bread rises just as well and it’s rare for it to mold in less than a week. (I find the blue agave syrup at my vitamin store, at Costco, and now even Smith’s [our version of Kroger’s] carries it. Might be worth a try.
Peggy says
Do you use the same portions as regular sugar?
katie says
not sure about the “blue” part but Walmart carries agave syrup. At least in Minnesota it does.
shirley bruner says
yep…it is that time of year when you keep the bread in the frig. i had some deli rye that started to mold. i tore off the moldy spots and put the rest in the fridge. there were only 4 slices left so i had toast for breakfast the next morning. we just don’t eat bread fast enough.
Liz says
My home made bread will last at least 7 days on the counter before molding. It’s so good it never lasts that long. Thanks for getting me started on bread making.
Peggy says
I have days like that also. I have been making home made bread lately and found that I must freeze one of the two loafs. I may still end up with mold on one of the loafs. Funny thing is I have a loaf of store bought multigrain bread that has been in the kitchen for at least 2 months and it does not have a spot of mold on it. Wow and I used to eat that bread. Wonder what the heck is in that bread! I’ll take home made, thank you!
Linda in NE says
That’s a heck of a way to start the day. I hope the rest of it went better.
Around here it’s every man for himself for breakfast. I’m barely able to pull something together for myself…never mind actually cooking something for someone else.
Quiltinggranna says
My Monday morning was “one of those mornings” but not involving my kitchen. Was going to a friend’s house to sew and was run into the street median by another car and blew out both left tires on the driver’s side. Fortunately he turned around and came back to check on me, put the spare on one and even tried his spare on the other (same make)but wouldn’t fit. When my husband got there an hour later, he insisted my husband take his car to get the tires fixed so I could go on my merry way while he stayed with my van to make sure it did not get towed! That took a while as he had to go to 4 different stores to get the right ones. AND he said he will take care of any expense we incur – new tires,new wheels, whatever! Now THAT is a TEXAN for you! He couldn’t have been any nicer. And I went on to my friend’s to sew the rest of the day. (He admitted it was his fault for not watching the curving lane and was getting over in my lane, but I had no where to go.)
Doreen says
Wow! Your guardian angel got a work out!-D
CindyM says
I KNOW things mold, but every time I pulled something out that’s moldy, I feel like I don’t clean out my fridge or cupboards often enough…. reading posts like this reassure me that it happens to everyone (which I KNOW it does),… but why do women carry around this guilt that we don’t take care of things “as we should”?
Liz says
Since I’ve been on a diet, I’ve noticed that the bread is getting moldy before I finish it. So, whenever I buy bread, I’m taking 1/2 of the loaf and making croutons right away. That way i can have a bit of crunch on my salad without eating a slice or two of toast.
I also bought that little handheld fresh-saver gadget that you talked about a while back.. I opted to just buy the storage containers that I can wash instead of dealing with the bags. I’ve had good luck in storing the shredded cheese in those containers and then resealing them. No mold yet.
Alma says
I pulled out the cheese for our sandwiches at lunch and since it was green on one side….we had ham without cheese! Just one of those days!
Jennifer says
Judy – I think you totally have it together all the time – you do, right 😉 – in the kitchen, the sewing room, and the garden! I am glad to see that you had the same issue in your kitchen as I did yesterday – lol.
Mary says
That’s why I always have my nose in my cheese bag! Hate that moldy cheese, It smells funny, its gone!
Marie Mann says
Hi Judy, nope, you are not alone. Happens Down Under all the time too.
Not into breadmaking, but do buy bread with no preservatives, so I freeze it and just take out the slices as I need them, hate waste, especially avoidable waste.
Same goes for the grated cheese, always buy the lo fat cheese and that definitely goes mouldy quicker, so I freeze that too, and double bag it, which seems to slow down the ‘clumping’ that occurs when I jjust freeze the pack of grated cheese.
Your bread looks so nice, I should get my act together and make some but then I would eat it and my hipline would expand even more.
Love all your adventures, you seem to be so happy, it is just great to see.
Cheerio,
Marie
Dar says
When I make 2 loaves of bread and I know we won’t eat them before they mold, I slice one loaf, put it in a freezer bag and into the freezer. Then when we need 1 or 2 or slices, I take that many out, zap them in the microwave for 15-20 secs. and they are ready to use or put in the toaster, if that is what I wanted them for. I have to have toast with “hot cereal” or any kind of eggs. It tastes fresh baked when it’s toasted a little bit. Judy, I know you have it together most of the time. We all have had “one of those mornings”.
Annie says
I don’t know if this is fact, but I have read that bread will mold very quickly if stored in the fridge. I don’t know the science behind it. I always slice my home made bread and store in the freezer, taking out what I need just before a meal.
Marky says
I remember seeing a cooking program on PBS years ago with Jacque Pepin when he made bread. He said that the longer you let the dough rise in the first rising period, the longer the bread would last (not get moldy). It makes sense since more of the sugar in the dough is being used up by the yeast, reducing the culture medium for mold. I’ve always wondered if that’s what’s going on or is it that the mold is actually the yeast that wasn’t used up?