Subway ‘Crisis’: Is Footlong Sub Really 11 Inches?

[Beachlife!]

I keep mine on the counter, except in the hot days of summer when I put it in the fridge to avoid mold.

[thorny locust]

IME, bread's not going to dry out very fast in the refrigerator if you put it in a closed plastic bag; which is the way a lot of it comes nowadays anyway. I wonder if that might be old advice from pre-plastic days, being repeated through the generations even when it's not applicable?

It will keep longest in the freezer; but even homemade no-preservative bread will keep for several days to a week in the refrigerator.

[Hero_Mike]

What TGirl said. One of the reasons why the "Subway Diet" worked is because it emphasizes one thing almost all of us have trouble with - portion control. For so many of us, cooking a single-serving meal for one is not an optimal use of time, so we make a larger portion in the hopes of creating leftovers - for the next day or the next week (if we have a freezer) - but if there's more food there, it is very, very difficult to not eat more of it. Especially when it's a favorite.

[Sue]

I haven't noticed that the bread dries out in the fridge I just find it takes on a flavour I don't like. Not sure what it is exactly and it's faint but it's there.

[Esprise Me]

"Stale" is a matter of opinion. "Mold" is a matter of safety.

[videoguy]

Originally Posted by thorny locust

IME, bread's not going to dry out very fast in the refrigerator if you put it in a closed plastic bag; which is the way a lot of it comes nowadays anyway. I wonder if that might be old advice from pre-plastic days, being repeated through the generations even when it's not applicable?

It's not old advice. The 2nd article I posted says that it's about the coolness of the fridge and the condensation. So, I don't think the bag is going to help any. Some bags even say "for maximum freshness, store at room temperature."

[TurquoiseGirl]

Meh. The humidity here is generally low. I store my bread in the fridge as well.

Esprise me, a box of Joe-Joes is also not safe in my house.

[mags]

For us, moldiness always happens before staleness when bread is left on the counter. So, the fridge it is. We still often end up not using the whole loaf before it dries out, but we get through more of it than we would before it started growing things at room temperature.

[thorny locust]

Originally Posted by videoguy

The 2nd article I posted says that it's about the coolness of the fridge and the condensation.

That article's saying, if I read it right, that the bread dries out because the starch molecules can't hold as much water when they're cold; so they expel it.

But I don't find condensation on the inside of the bag (unless I bag the bread while it's still hot from the oven, in which case I find condensation whether I leave it at room temperature or refrigerate it); so where is the water going?

In any case: the progression of staleness in the refrigerator goes a whole lot slower than the progression of mold outside the refrigerator. Many grocery breads have preservatives added; maybe enough preservatives prevent the mold, and maybe those breads do keep better outside the fridge.

[Latiam]

Originally Posted by Avril

If you over-poof the bread, it ends up wider and a bit shorter.

One of many reasons I only lasted, in my youth, for four days as a Subway Sandwich Artist was the manager's lectures on over-poofing.

Nine months for me.

Originally Posted by 1958Fury

In my experience (I worked at Subway off and on for about 6 years), the length of the bread can vary anywhere from 11 to 12 inches depending on how long you proof the bread. Also, if you let the breadsticks thaw before proofing them, you can stretch them a bit before they go into the proofer for extra length. However, you're getting the same amount of food either way. *snip*

And you were in fact supposed to do this - let them thaw, stretch them, then proof them - but it wasn't overemphasized in the training materials.

Originally Posted by DevilBunny

Weird. I've never seen it called anything but 'proving'. 'Proofing' just seems so... ungrammatical... (though I'm perfectly happy with the word in a proofreading concept, so I guess hypocrisy will out!)

Dictionary.com does list both variants, though, so... weird

If it makes you feel better, our oven has a "Bread Proof" setting and that how I've seen it in cookbooks too.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by thorny locust

That article's saying, if I read it right, that the bread dries out because the starch molecules can't hold as much water when they're cold; so they expel it....

This sounds right. A fresh loaf of bread in a cold car will leave condensation all over the inside of the bag.

[MapleLeaf]

I always keep my bread in the fridge. But I also always toast it. I don't like soft slices of bread. It has yet to ever go moldy, and some loaves were in there for at least a month.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by DevilBunny

Weird. I've never seen it called anything but 'proving'. 'Proofing' just seems so... ungrammatical... (though I'm perfectly happy with the word in a proofreading concept, so I guess hypocrisy will out!)

Proofreading is reading a "proof," though, so originally "proof" was a noun in that context, although course now we shorten "proofread" to "proof" and use it as a noun.

I've never seen "proof" used as a verb outside the bread-baking context.

And after typing this post, I find that "proof" looks really weird to me.

[geminilee]

Waterproofing. Fireproofing.

[Lainie]

Okay, not by itself outside that context.

Seriously, though, those are the verb forms of compound adjectives -- when one waterproofs something, one is making it waterproof. I've never seen someone use "proof" instead of "prove" to refer to proving in the sense that one proves a theorem, or the case against an accused person.

[geminilee]

Do you prove bread like a theorem, or do you proof it against being flat?

[Lainie]

The latter, I think. What would I prove about bread?