Why does Irish bread go grey instead of hard?

SwissK · 23-08-2015 02:59AM #1

Hi,

I have been living in Ireland for 10 years (grew up in Switzerland).
One thing that I haven;t figured out is, why the heck does the bread here in Ireland go off? Regular sliced bread goes off within 3 days of it's not in the fridge.

A a few weeks back, friends from work (Spanish, French, Italian, German) were asking the same question. It seems that in mainland Europe, bread just goes hard, but never ever grey.
Also the idea to put bread in the fridge is for most foreigners ridiculous.

So what makes it go all moldy? The humidity? Different way of baking it (different yeast or flour)?

It's just strange as this seems to only affect UK and Ireland, but not mainland Europe. Bread only seems to grow mold in mainland Europe if it's kept inside a sealed bag with no air for weeks. Here, regular sliced bread, burger/hot dog buns, even soda bread... all grows blue mold after just 72 hours.

uch · 23-08-2015 03:02AM

Because your eating the wrong bread

catsbanter · 23-08-2015 03:03AM

Your meant to eat it when it grows mold. Gives it a lovely flavour!

NachoBusiness · 23-08-2015 03:03AM

Flour "improvers".
Buy from a bakery that doesn't use them and it won't happen.
Blazing Salads on Drury St for one.

foggy_lad · 23-08-2015 03:16AM

SwissK wrote: »

Hi,

I have been living in Ireland for 10 years (grew up in Switzerland).
One thing that I haven;t figured out is, why the heck does the bread here in Ireland go off? Regular sliced bread goes off within 3 days of it's not in the fridge.

A a few weeks back, friends from work (Spanish, French, Italian, German) were asking the same question. It seems that in mainland Europe, bread just goes hard, but never ever grey.
Also the idea to put bread in the fridge is for most foreigners ridiculous.

So what makes it go all moldy? The humidity? Different way of baking it (different yeast or flour)?

It's just strange as this seems to only affect UK and Ireland, but not mainland Europe. Bread only seems to grow mold in mainland Europe if it's kept inside a sealed bag with no air for weeks. Here, regular sliced bread, burger/hot dog buns, even soda bread... all grows blue mold after just 72 hours.

mass produced white bread goes a greyish colour as mould grows through it, the other soda breads etc will last longer and will go stale rather than just change colour but when the bread goes hard it is gone off!

Europeans use different ingredients and their bread lasts longer but is also used differently than our bread. When aldi store opened in Carlow their bread looked a yellowish colour and felt firmer than the normal "Irish loaf" and lasted about a week but people in Carlow hated it and within weeks aldi had changed the bread for soft whiter loafs.

Why does Irish bread go grey instead of hard?

Comments