Mouldy bread – Hovis content

Our bread, delivered by Sainsbury’s, is now consistently going mouldy each week, long before we’ve got to the end of the loaf.

We have Hovis Granary and have done for ages. We’ve never had this issue before. But it’s happening every week now, half a loaf in the (compost) bin.

I can tell straight away if it’s gone by the fruity smell on opening the bag. The mould is white.

Any ideas why this would have started happening? We store it in the same place we’ve always done.

Maybe its mouldy old dough…

if you only eat 1 loaf a week i am not suprised.

in hungry mode, i eat a loaf a day…………..    ;o)

We buy 4 loaves and drop 2 (sometimes 3) in the freezer.

Half the loaf and put in freezer for a few days until it’s needed?

Buy a half loaf?

Check the use by/best before when it arrives.  If they’ve just got someone on duty who’s actually properly rotating stock all the old stuff will be at front/top.

I don’t think the delivery pickers tend to check this stuff.  If it’s short dated on delivery you’ll often be able to get it taken back or the cost removed.  It doesn’t solve the mould problem but at least you won’t be paying for it and I suspect there’s a short date reason code on the handsets so if stuff is consistently going back/refunded for short dates then it might get picked up in some analysis somewhere.

Is Hovis really bread?

“Jesus, is that you? It’s Matthew”

Buy a half loaf?

But they’re rubbish.  They’re half the overall weight but the slices are 2/3 of a normal slice and make inadequate sandwiches and you can’t get 3 bits in one (2 slice) toaster.

Come on i knead more puns…

It’s probably older stock if buying online.

As above put half in the freezer, takes seconds to defrost, or will defrost at room temp quick too if you seperate the slices.

I suspect it is that they have got their act together with stock rotation. The loaves are still generally within the best before, or a day or so past, and going mouldy. I’ll see if I can check the date on loaves in an actual shop

We do freeze loaves. Maybe just need to start taking out slices as we need.

I have a bread maker which makes far superior bread from the same Granary flour. The only issue with it is we don’t have worktop space for it to be out and accessible…. then there’s slicing it. I have no issue myself but my wife struggles to cut even slices. We’ve tried a cutting guide. Yet another appliance might be the answer in the form of an electric slicer

Heat doesn’t help and neither does a plastic bag even though it stops the bread getting dry. You can put it in the fridge as long as it’s sealed to make it last longer.

I get my shopping online from Morrisons since Covid, and they do the same, fresh stuff is usually very short dated, I’m sure they pick out the oldest stuff (but still just about in date) for home delivery.

I were right about that saddle though…

Edit- but wrong about my classic advert memories!
That was Yellow Pages.
What i meant to say was, ‘it’s as good for you today as it’s always been’

Sorry, carry on.

Crumbs, use your loaf, don’t buy it.

I were right about that saddle though…

Edit- but wrong about my classic advert memories!
That was Yellow Pages.

Yep, Yellow Pages 🙂 I’ve just watched it on YouTube and it brings a tear to my eye – and I’m sure the saddle would as well 🤣

I get my shopping online from Morrisons since Covid, and they do the same, fresh stuff is usually very short dated, I’m sure they pick out the oldest stuff (but still just about in date) for home delivery.

It’s picked from the shop floor in most stores so is the same stuff that you would get if you went in yourself. What can happen is your delivery gets picked after the store has been open and before the morning delivery has arrived so you get the least fresh they generally have by default, not by choice. This is usually the case for morning deliveries but it depends on your store’s delivery times. If you normally have an evening delivery try a morning one or vice versa if you can, might make a difference.

Had some diabolical short date deliveries.

We find the more you reject the less nonsense you get.

We find the more you reject the less nonsense you get.

I suppose they can use data to determine that you will be more/less likely to reject short life products. But are they really characterising customers in that way?

Sounds like the effect of plastic bag and hot weather. Probably will last longer when it cools down in a week or two.

I’ve found over the summer that the artisanal French sourdough baguettes we typically get from a local boulangerie/patisserie/Viennoiserie have ‘bloomed’ before the end of the second day in their lock ‘n’ lock box if there’s any leftover.

As folks have said:
Put it in the fridge
Put half in a freezer bag in the freezer

It’s definitely a Hovis thing, we’ve been buying it for years, I always check the date, and store it the same way. Recently the loaves have started going off before their use by dates – rapid and significant mould developing.

It’s happened to a few loaves so we’ve stopped buying Hovis now.

I suspect grain supply changes due to the war in Ukraine.

Have they changed the recipe?  I don’t normally buy hovis but tried a loaf recently and it was so sweet with added sugar it was quite nasty

We were buying Warburtons low sugar, but haven’t been able to buy it recently. Tried a Hovis – as you say, so sweet!

Asides the mold no one has reported changes in my family.

Go artisan loaf 🍞

half a loaf in the (compost) bin.

I didnt realise you could put bread in a composter

I’ve always gone with ignorance that some brands go mouldy quicker than others depending on how artificial the bread is. ie more preservatives/nasties = bread lasting longer. But thats probably just wrong.

It’s been very humid the past couple of weeks and I have noticed our fruit going off quicker, which I have presumed is because it’s warm and damp. Same for the bread?

Come on i knead more puns…

Nah. For starters I’ve got nothing to prove so you won’t get a rise out of me. But I’m not bothered – I’m not levain type.

Go to the shop and buy it yourself, make sure you don’t use the self serve checkout.

That way you’ll get the freshest loaf and may save someone’s job before they do away with tills all together

Make actual bread.

500g strong white bread flour
330ml warm water
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried yeast
Mix flour, salt and yeast in a bowl, add the water a third at a time and mix until all the flour at the bottom of the bowl has been combined, it’ll take about 2 minutes tops.

Cover with clingfilm and leave overnight

Next morning scrape the dough, which will be stringy, onto a floured surface. Flatten it to a disc and bring the edges into the middle all around the edge. Flip over and form a ball. Takes about another minute
Put onto some greaseproof paper and cover with the same clingfilm until risen (doubles in size).
Heat oven to 220+C and put a lidded casserole pot (Dutch oven) in to heat up. If you don’t have one then you can just put the bread on a baking sheet but it might spread out slightly.
When the pot is hot and the dough has doubled score the top with a sharp knife and drop it (still on the paper) into the pot with a few ice cubes under the paper and replace lid. Bake. Check after 30 minutes, lift out of pot and bake for a further 10 minutes at 200.
Leave to cool on a wire rack before cutting (if you can, it’ll smell amazing).
No kneading needed, it’s the easiest, best bread you can make and light years away from crappy Chorleywood method bread.
Try it, you’ll be a convert, guaranteed!
[recipe credit to Kitty Tait, Bread Song book]

Home baking a good idea. But thinking about mould isn’t that a sign that it’s not loaded with preservatives. Perhaps in small enough quantities to not be listed. Beware.

Make actual bread.

500g strong white bread flour

330ml warm water

2 tsp salt

1 tsp dried yeast

Mix flour, salt and yeast in a bowl, add the water a third at a time and mix until all the flour at the bottom of the bowl has been combined, it’ll take about 2 minutes tops.

But where’s the sugar and preservatives?!?!

Seriously…. Bread generally in the UK sucks.

Hovis and the rest of them are a pathetic. It’s embarrassing when coming from the continent.

We do 400g, 100 country grain, 300 strong white, with 300ml of water.

Put onto some greaseproof paper and cover with the same clingfilm until risen (doubles in size).

We put it on a floured knapkin that we close over the dough, which is on a little baking tray and leave somewhere warm, in the sun or on heated bathroom floor. Then easy to slide it into the hot le Creuset pot which goes in when we turn the oven on to heat up (half hour)

Check after 30 minutes, lift out of pot and bake for a further 10 minutes at 200.

Just take the lid off. That’s all we do. 30 mins with lid on, then a further 15 lid off.

“dmortsFull Member
We find the more you reject the less nonsense you get.
I suppose they can use data to determine that you will be more/less likely to reject short life products. But are they really characterising customers in that way?”

Of course they are. They know all about your funny little ways…

“Go artisan loaf 🍞”

It won’t last more than a day!

(before it all gets eaten)

Seriously…. Bread generally in the UK sucks.

Bread from Puglia really demonstrates what bread should be. No preservatives but keeps for days. Thick thick crust too, no good for your Granny’s dentures mind… Google Altamuran bread is a thing of beauty https://youtu.be/ffbFJKHj18Q
We are offered the crap we have in this country because we keep buying it. Apparently experiments were done where starving lab rats wouldn’t eat supermarket ‘bread’ as they recognised there was nothing in it of any value. It’s not even food!

Maybe I’ve been spoilt somewhat being in Germany for the last 15 years….

The likes of Hovis et al don’t even appear on the shelves in a supermarket. The closet you’ll get is a brand called “Toast” which is specifically for making toast. It’s alright for making eggy bread, aka French toast, and that’s about it.

Seriously…. Bread generally in the UK sucks.

We had a Danish bloke riding with us for a couple of years. Just before he went back to Denmark we were talking about what he’d miss, and what he was looking forward to back at home, and bread was one thing he picked out, with almost the same comment as you.

It’s also getting worse, in supermarkets at least. Our local Asda now don’t sell any crusty bread at all, only soft loaves which you need to finish off. I will go out of my way to visit Lidl because that is the only supermarket that does decent bread, and most local bakers have beaten down by Greggs.