In the Kitchen: Bread you can break for many days
Proper storage can help bread last longer.
Whether you bake a lot of bread, buy from a favorite bakery or get
your loaves from the supermarket, knowing how to properly store
your bread can delay staling and help it to last longer.
Store the bread in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight.
Store your bread in a bread box if you have one, or keep the bread
in its original packaging (whether plastic or paper). The shelf
life of bread will vary by type but should keep anywhere from two
days to a week.
If the bread is still warm from baking, give the bread time to cool
before storing it – wrapping the bread while it is still warm can
trap excess moisture, causing it to go soft, even moldy.
You can also freeze bread. Bread will keep, tightly wrapped in foil
or plastic, up to a few months. Thaw the bread before using (you
can toast frozen bread slices straight out of the freezer).
Whatever you do, don’t refrigerate your bread – refrigeration can
actually cause the bread to stale (called starch retrogradation)
faster.
To refresh a loaf of bread, warm it in an oven, or toast the
slices.
Cooking those hot peppers
My brother-in-law recently tried to make fried, stuffed jalapeños
called poppers. He removed the seeds, but the poppers were still
very hot. What could he have done to tame the heat?
Like anything grown in nature, chile peppers can vary in intensity.
Their age, degree of ripeness, even the amount of water they got
when they were growing can affect their heat.
You can take some evasive action, though. The most common way to
tame chiles is to remove both the seeds and the ribs, the white-ish
ridges inside the pepper. Chile purists would shudder, but you also
can soak the peppers in a little hot water before cooking them. It
also might make them milder if you grill or bake the filled peppers
instead of frying them.
Finally, it will help quench the fire if you serve the chiles with
a dairy product, such as a sour cream-based dip.
Whatever you do, wear gloves while you handle the peppers or wash
your hands very well afterward. The heat can linger much longer
than you’d think, but a single touch to your eyes, mouth or nose is
all it will take to remind you.
Noelle Carter, Los Angeles Times; and Kathleen Purvis,
McClatchy Newspapers
If you have any kitchen tips or questions you’d like Carter
to explore, email [email protected].
Bread Making with Bill & Sheila
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