On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1025

As the temperature declines, the starch granules become firmer and so the loaf as a whole becomes easier to slice without tearing This desirable firming continues over the course of a day or so, and turns out to be the first step in the process called staling The Staling Process; Storing and Refreshing Bread Staling Staling takes place in the days following baking, and seems to involve the loss of moisture: the bread interior gets dry, hard, and crumbly It turns out that bread will stale even when there’s no net loss of moisture from the loaf This was shown in the landmark study of bread staling in 1852, when the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Boussingault showed that bread could be hermetically sealed to prevent it from losing water, and yet still go stale He further showed that staling is reversed by reheating the bread to 140ºF/60ºC: the temperature, we now know, at which starch gelates Staling is now understood to be a manifestation of starch retrogradation, the recrystallization, water migration out of the granules, and hardening that take place when cooked starch is then cooled (p 548) The initial firming of the freshly baked bread loaf, which improves its ability to be sliced, is caused by the retrogradation of the simple straight-chain amylose molecules, and is essentially complete within a day of baking Food Words: Stale Though stale now suggests a food that is past its prime, old and dried out, it hasn’t always had these negative connotations It is a medieval Teutonic word, and originally meant “to stand” or “to age.” It was applied to wines and liquors, which became clarified and stronger in flavor when they were allowed to stand for some .. .the temperature, we now know, at which starch gelates Staling is now understood to be a manifestation of starch retrogradation, the recrystallization, water migration out of the granules, and hardening that take place when... granules, and hardening that take place when cooked starch is then cooled (p 548) The initial firming of the freshly baked bread loaf, which improves its ability to be sliced, is caused by the retrogradation of the simple straight-chain amylose molecules, and is... straight-chain amylose molecules, and is essentially complete within a day of baking Food Words: Stale Though stale now suggests a food that is past its prime, old and dried out, it hasn’t always had these negative connotations