But I do know that the use of honey in the recipe helps keep it from staling longer than without it. Molasses helps, too, though honey is a bit stronger in its "hygroscopic" effect. That is, it draws moisture in and keeps it there.

Just replace whatever sugar may be called for in the recipe, usually no more than a tablespoon for a large loaf.

Hope that helps

I had forgot about honey.

My problem with crusty breads is that usually they turn to dried out bricks by day two.

just to be sure I remembered correctly about honey. And found a couple of other ways to extend the life of bread.

One, is the use of potato starch, or even just potato water in place of your regular water in the recipe. I know from experience that potato bread does last longer than most other breads.

The other I found on a site for news from India. It's about the use of coriander in fortifying breads to both last longer and add nutrition. I don't know what that would do to the flavor, but it might be something to consider

Last edited Mon Feb 4, 2013, 09:39 PM - Edit history (1)

the more sour, the longer it keeps. Crusty breads are a problem, if you wrap them up they lose the crunch.
Too bad we're not neighbors, I have tons of time to bake and not enough people to eat everything I could put out. I have to rein myself in too much

Usually, you'll see perforated plastic bags, but also just plain brown paper bags work, too.

Here's another forum that asks this same question and is full of links of suppliers

I confess an addiction to it, so I'd get a loaf home, slice it, and put it right into the freezer. It was the only way to keep that bread more than ten hours or so.

It'll be my first foray into sourdoughs. I'll have to try a rye version too, that sounds so good.

but all breads should be done the day before or the day of the market, sorry. You could possibly mix all the doughs on Thursday and refrigerate them but your baking would have to be Friday night or early Saturday morning.

If you don't have Friday baking time and can't manage to get out of bed at 3AM on Saturday, maybe you need to tell them to find someone else.

I baked things for a health food store back in the dark ages and the night before was the longest time out before sale I ever did. The bread bakers got up in the wee hours to have their breads fresh and hot when the place opened at 9 AM.

for the great suggestions.

I'm talking to the market owners and organizers. We decided to take a survey and see what most of our customers would want.

A couple of other products I've thought of:

Lavash- a cracker style bread from the ME. Advantage is that it stores well. Can be sold as a fresh soft wrap or dried out.

Frozen dough starter packs for sourdough or "herman" starter, or "friendship" starter.

Sweet stuff: Quick breads. Also thinking about coffee cakes and struedels.

No clue as to why...good luck at the market.