I've just acquired two pieces of slate to use in my ovens for baking bread and pizza.  I'll have them cut to size 14" X 22" today (my ovens are 24" wide).  That will give me an inch + all around.  My question...........Do any of you leave your stones in your oven all the time, or does the repeated expanding and contracting with the heating and cooling lead to their break down?  Also, do the stones impede or alter in a negative way anything else I would cook in the ovens? 

I have a whole slew of grands, and I'm really excited about being able to make two pizzas at a time in each oven.  On the other hand, I'm having visions of my poor old granny back hoisting those things in and out.  I do have a close to the oven storage place for them if needed.  They'll stand on end between a deep freeze and the wall.  I guess I should ask if that's OK, too, or should they be stored flat?

Syb

I googled my question but I'm not getting the answer I'm looking for.  Must be the way I phrased my question.  But here's my question:  i love the egg wash effect on breads but I find I'm wasting too many eggs.  I know I can freeze egg white but for how long?

Also, can I store the egg wash I used tonite in the fridge for use again tomorrow or the next day?  Is it safe to use egg wash twice, bacteria-wise?

And how long can egg whites be stored in the freezer?  I know we can't freeze egg yolk.

Anyone with advice?

Many thanks.

I'm new to bread making, I'm onto my 4th loaf as we speak. I have a couple question about bread storage and one about getting my bread to stay together better.

Storage:Where is the best place to store? Refrigerator? I put it in a storage bags, how long to wait before putting it in the bag? I noticed if I put it in warm it steams up the bag.? Should I cut it into slices before putting it in the bag (mostly making bread for sandwiches)?

Crumbling: Since I'm mostly making sandwich bread, i want a bread that doesn't crumble and stays together. I've been using mostly sandwich bread recipes, they hold together pretty well. But does anyone have some good tricks or ingredients that help hold the bread together?

Thanks for all the help, this forum is great and so are the people.

Recently I was laid-off from my job as a software engineer, so, since I'm home all day writing software, I've taken up breadmaking as a hobby since it gives me an excuse to get up from my desk every so often to knead or punch down the bread or put it in the oven, take it out, etc. It also saves money since I can make the equivalent of one of the $6 local bakery loaves I ied to buy for about 80 cents in ingredients.

Here's my question: I'm getting pretty good at this and I like to experiment with new recipes (recently I made a delicious rosemary bread using rosemary my wife and I grew in our sunroom) so I often have more bread than I can eat at the moment. But I've seen conflicting advice about storage: airtight, not airtight, how long to go without freezing, etc. Also, one issue I'll have to grapple with as summer nears will be ants.

Googling about bread storage (or even searching TFL) I've seen just about every opinion imaginable. How do I get authoritative information about this?

Thanks in advance!

PS - FWIW, my breads, so far, have been peasant or artisan style breads crusty on the outside, light but chewey inside, sometimes mostly white flour, sometimes mostly whole wheat. The whole wheat ones often are multigrain with rye, spelt, or oat. Most of my breads have a little oil (a tab

Hi,

I have been maintaining my starter in a bit of a different way than the 1:2:2 formula usually suggested.

Instead of discarding when I haven't used some starter, I just add equal amounts of flour/water to the starter.  This is usually ~4 oz. each.   Since I usually refresh the starter and use recipes with large amounts of preferment, I haven't run into the problem of the ever-growing starter.  It still maintains well in my 1L jar.  

However, I was wondering if this would cause a problem with balance of organisms or some other issues like that.  

So far, it always performs very well and the taste is good, if a little on the not-so-sour side (my preference).  BTW, I keep a 100% hydration starter since it's easiest to calculate from if other hydration levels are needed.

Any comments are very welcome.

Thanks,

MommaT

Can anyone advise on what the best way to store a braided challah or other softer bread?  I'm planning on baking it tomorrow (Tuesday) but would like it to still be edible on Christmas morning (Thursday).  I'm usually a sourdough baker and 2-3 days is no trouble for most of my loafs.

I was just on King Arthur's Flour site and for anyone who's interested, they have their nice storage bags for boules, medium and bagette loaves on sale for half price. They're usually 9.95 for 30 or 35 and they're on sale for 4.49 or 4.99. I've ordered some and will let you know how the quality is.

Trish