Healthy Bread Test: Shocking Results Are In
July 13, 2011 34 Comments
Back on June 29th, Snack Girl began healthy bread research WITHOUT government or industry funding. The experiment was simple.
At the beginning of the experiment (see: Which Bread Is The Healthiest?), I placed 3 slices of bread into Ziploc freezer bags and left them on my bookshelf at room temperature. The bread I tested was homemade bread, Wonder Bread, and Arnold 12 Grain bread.
Each day, I checked to see if any visible mold, fungus, or bacteria had grown on the slices of bread. My hypothesis was that the homemade bread was going to mold first because it didn't have any preservatives.
Other than that, I decided to let the bread speak for itself. The photos above and below were taken July 12th - 15 days after I started the test. Above the homemade bread is on the left and the Wonder bread is on the right.
This is the Arnold 12 grain bread:
Do you see any mold? No? After 15 days at room temperature in a bag - NOTHING?
huh.
Here are my results so far:
- Homemade bread - 10 days
- Wonder bread - 11 days
- Arnold Bread - ?????
Maybe the Arnold bread has more preservatives in it or, perhaps, it is made with SUPER grain that never rots (not likely).
So, my homemade bread did mold before Wonder bread - if only a day before. But, it lasted 10 days before it molded which begs me to ask the question - do bread manufacturers really need to put preservatives into bread?
I know you guys are going to get grumpy if I mention Whole Foods (since many of you don't live close to one), but I do buy some bread at Whole Foods. And, get this, their Whole Foods Organic Wheat Bread has ZERO preservatives and costs 28 cents less a loaf than the Arnold 12 grain.
My guess is that Whole Foods bakes the bread in a central location and then HUSTLES it out to stores so that they don't need to add anything for freshness.
Hey, if a slice of freshly baked bread can last 10 days in a bag at room temperature - how long can bread last that was made in a (I hope) much more sanitary kitchen?
The bread product that will have zero preservatives will be bread that you can find in the freezer! This is a great option for those of us who want healthy bread and don't want to bake it.
Check out the "Natural Foods" freezer part of your supermarket for bread that costs the same as many other commercial breads and doesn't have preservatives.
Why do you think the Arnold bread hasn't molded after 15 days?
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