Thanksgiving is the time for me to draw from my culinary expertise and share with my readers cooking hints for the big day.
Who am I kidding? My knowledge of cooking wouldn’t fill one-fourth of a teaspoon.
In fact, my big job on Thanksgiving is to stay at least 100 feet from the kitchen. When they unlock the door, I know it’s time to eat.
Anyway, I bring this story to light for the benefit of genuine cooks. Otherwise, call the Thanksgiving Hotline.
—
"Larry, I have this recipe that calls for day-old bread. Just what is day-old bread?"
Linda, the assistant to the chief of police, asked me that a few years ago when I was at the station looking at their public records.
LINDA: "Does day-old mean it's 24 hours old? Or, does it mean the bread has passed a sell-by date?"
ME: "I don't know, Linda. I grew up in a house full of boys and bread never lasted more than a day."
LINDA: "Well, I need to know so I can use this recipe for bread pudding."
ME: "I'll see what I can find out."
—
JOYCE: "Lone Ranger Bakery, this is Joyce."
ME: "Hi Joyce. I need to ask you a question. What is day-old bread?"
JOYCE: "We don't sell day-old bread anymore. Everything here is fresh."
ME: "Well, Joyce, that's fine, but what is it you don't sell there?"
JOYCE: "OK, bread is fresh for 72 hours. Our drivers take bread to put on store shelves, then bring back what's left after 24 hours. So, the bread they bring back is still fresh for 48 more hours. We sell it here in our outlet store.
"After 48 hours, we get rid of it."
ME: "But Joyce, if the bread is 72 hours old, then it's three-day-old bread, right?"
JOYCE: "OK, when you say day-old bread, it's still fresh. If you bake bread at home, do you throw it out after 24 hours?"
ME: "No, if there's any left after 24 hours.
"But where did the term, day-old bread, come from, Joyce?"
JOYCE: "Day-old? Who knows. Long before I ever started in bread.
"OK, our bread has two dates on the label. If one of them is, say, the 10th, then we can sell it through the 13th, and it's still actually fresh."
ME: "So, Joyce, why would they call it day-old when it's more than a day old?"
JOYCE: "I guess they just called it day-old because it sounded better than returned bread.
"Actually, what makes bread day-old is that it's had time to dry out some. That is, the gluten has had time to harden.
"You know how soft and gooey fresh bread is? Well, that's because the gluten is still moist. Once the bread is day-old, or really, more than 72 hours old, it's dried out some.
"Does that answer your question?"
ME: "I ... think so. By the way, Joyce, who’s on first?”
JOYCE: “Excuse me?”
ME: “Never mind.”
—
LINDA: "Police Department, this is Linda."
ME: "Hey Linda. If you want day-old bread, first buy some fresh bread and hold it for 72 hours. Or, take it out of the bag and either lay it out in the air or put it in the oven on low heat. Before you know it, it’s day-old bread.
"And don't forget to save me some of that bread puddin'."
Larry Penkava is a correspondent for The Courier-Tribune. Contact: 336-302-2189, larrypenkava@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Courier-Tribune: From fresh bread to day-old bread: It takes a 72-hour day
"bread" - Google News
November 19, 2021 at 06:03PM
https://ift.tt/3cuyPsS
Column: What really is day-old bread? - Yahoo News
"bread" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2pGzbrj
https://ift.tt/2Wle22m
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Column: What really is day-old bread? - Yahoo News"
Post a Comment