How a Chemist Makes the Softest Bread You'll Ever Eat

Summary

This video explores the science behind Japanese milk bread's fluffiness, attributing it to starch gelatinization. The process involves heating flour to break down starch's crystalline and amorphous regions, making bread soft and resistant to staling. The presenter conducts an experiment with different percentages of pre-gelatinized starch, revealing that while higher percentages yield softer bread, it can compromise structure. The video also discusses bread's resistance to staling due to shorter starch chains post-gelatinization and suggests freezing as a better storage method than refrigeration.

Takeaways

• 🍞 Japanese milk bread is known for its soft, fluffy texture and resistance to going stale.
• 🌾 Starch is the key ingredient in bread, making up about 70-75% of flour's composition.
• 🔬 The structure of starch granules includes both crystalline and amorphous regions, which affect how they interact with water and heat.
• 💧 Starch granules are insoluble in water below 60 degrees Celsius, but above this temperature, they undergo gelatinization, which is crucial for bread texture.
• 🔥 The process of gelatinization involves heating starch with water, causing it to swell and form a gel, which is irreversible.
• 🍞 The Tangzhong and Yudane methods involve pre-gelatinizing starch by heating a portion of the flour with water or milk before making the bread dough.
• 📈 Research shows that increasing the percentage of pre-gelatinized starch in bread can make it softer but may reduce its volume and gas retention.
• 🕒 Pre-gelatinizing starch before baking allows for more controlled gelatinization, leading to a softer bread texture.
• 🍞 The gelatinization process can delay staling in bread because it affects the retrogradation of starch molecules.
• ⏰ Bread with pre-gelatinized starch stays fresher for longer due to reduced staling, which is also influenced by the interaction of fat molecules with gelatinized starch.

Q & A

What is the key ingredient that makes Japanese milk bread so fluffy and soft?

The key ingredient is starch, which is found in flour. Starch granules have crystalline and amorphous regions that, when heated, can absorb water and break apart, contributing to the soft and fluffy texture of the bread.

What is the difference between amylose and amylopectin in starch molecules?

Amylose is a long linear chain of glucose molecules, while amylopectin is a branched molecule with many linked chains, making it typically larger than amylose. These two forms are the main components of starch.

Why does starch granules' structure matter in bread making?

Starch granules' structure matters because the crystalline and amorphous regions within them respond differently to heat and water. This affects how they gelatinize, which in turn impacts the texture of the bread.

What happens to starch granules when heated above 60 degrees Celsius?

When starch granules are heated above 60 degrees Celsius, they swell and form a gel or paste due to the absorption of water. This process is irreversible, and the granules remain in a gel or paste state even after cooling.

What is the Tangzhong method and how does it affect bread texture?

The Tangzhong method involves simmering water, milk, and flour together to create a preheated starch mixture that is then added to the dough. This process gelatinizes the starch, resulting in a fluffier and softer bread texture.

Why does pregelatinizing starch in bread making lead to a softer bread?

Pregelatinizing starch ensures that a greater proportion of the starch undergoes gelatinization before baking even begins, which leads to a more gradual and controlled gelatinization process during baking, resulting in a softer bread texture.

How does the Yudane method differ from the Tangzhong method?

The Yudane method involves pouring boiling water over flour and letting it sit before making the bread, while the Tangzhong method simmers water, milk, and flour together. Both methods aim to gelatinize starch for a softer bread texture, but they differ in the specific process used.

What is the effect of pregelatinized starch on the staling process of bread?

Pregelatinized starch in bread becomes more susceptible to breakdown by amylases during baking, resulting in shorter starch chains. Since retrogradation, the process that leads to staling, requires starches of a minimum length, bread with pregelatinized starch experiences less staling.

Why does storing bread in the fridge accelerate staling?

Storing bread in the fridge accelerates staling because retrogradation, the process where starch molecules reassociate, happens faster at cooler temperatures. Freezing bread, on the other hand, stops retrogradation, preserving its freshness longer.

How can the staling of bread be temporarily reversed?

The staling of bread can be temporarily reversed by reheating it in the microwave, which causes the starch molecules to gelatinize again, creating a softer texture. However, once the bread cools down, it will become stale again.

What is the role of fats in bread and how do they interact with gelatinized starch?

Fats in bread interact with gelatinized starch molecules, creating a support structure that can delay staling or retrogradation. This interaction provides additional resistance to the bread becoming stale, contributing to its freshness.

Outlines

00:00

🍞 The Science of Fluffy Bread

The paragraph introduces the concept of Japanese milk bread, known for its soft and fluffy texture, which resists going stale. The narrator attributes these qualities to the chemistry of starch, specifically the crystalline and amorphous regions within starch granules. These regions, composed of polysaccharides, can be manipulated by introducing water and heat, breaking them apart to achieve the desired texture. The script delves into the composition of flour, highlighting that it is primarily starch, and explains the role of starch in plant energy storage. The narrator also touches on the process of gelatinization, where starch granules swell and form a gel when heated above 60 degrees Celsius, which is crucial for bread's texture. The video promises an experiment to test the effects of different starch treatments on bread's fluffiness.

05:05

🔬 Experimenting with Starch Gelatinization

This section details an experiment to understand how different amounts of pre-gelatinized starch affect the texture of bread. The narrator explains the process of gelatinization, which occurs when starch is heated in the presence of water, causing it to swell and form a gel. The experiment involves making three batches of bread with varying percentages of a heated flour mixture called Tangzhong or Yudane. The goal is to observe how these different treatments impact the bread's fluffiness and softness. The narrator also discusses the gradual nature of gelatinization during the bread-baking process and how pre-gelatinizing starch can lead to a softer bread texture. The results of the experiment show that bread made with pre-gelatinized starch is softer, but higher percentages can lead to structural issues in the bread, such as a sunken center.

10:07

🍞 The Texture and Staleness of Bread

The paragraph discusses the texture and staling process of bread. It explains that bread becomes soft and chewy as it cools due to a process called retrogradation, where starch molecules reassociate with water molecules. Over time, this process can cause bread to harden and stale. However, the pre-gelatinized starch in the bread from the previous experiment is more susceptible to enzymatic breakdown during baking, resulting in shorter starch chains that experience less retrogradation and staling. The narrator also mentions that fat molecules in the dough can interact with gelatinized starch molecules, creating a support structure that delays staling. The video then fast-forwards to show the narrator's面包 taste test after a week, highlighting the difference in staleness between the control bread and the bread made with pre-gelatinized starch.

15:10

📚 Preventing Bread from Going Stale

In this final paragraph, the narrator shares insights on how to prevent bread from going stale. They explain that retrogradation, the process responsible for bread staling, occurs faster at cooler temperatures, so storing bread in the fridge can actually accelerate staling. Instead, freezing bread is recommended to prevent retrogradation. The narrator also suggests reheating stale bread in the microwave to temporarily soften it through gelatinization. The paragraph concludes with a humorous disclaimer, emphasizing that the channel is focused on chemistry rather than cooking, and that viewers should be cautious about taking bread-making advice from the video.

Keywords

💡Starch

Starch is a polysaccharide, meaning it is a carbohydrate made up of many sugar units. In the video, starch is highlighted as the key ingredient in bread making, particularly for achieving a fluffy texture. It is composed of two types of molecules: amylose, a linear chain, and amylopectin, a branched molecule. Starch granules found in flour are crucial as they provide the structure and texture to bread, with the video mentioning how heating a portion of the flour (as in the Tangzhong or Yudane process) affects the starch's properties and contributes to the bread's softness and resistance to staling.

💡Amylose

Amylose is a type of starch molecule that forms a long, linear chain. It is one of the two main components of starch, along with amylopectin. In the context of the video, amylose is part of the discussion on the composition of starch and how different types of starch molecules contribute to the texture and properties of bread. The video explains that amylose is broken down by enzymes in our body to produce sweetness, which is relevant when discussing the lack of sweetness in potatoes despite their high starch content.

💡Amylopectin

Amylopectin is a branched molecule and the other main component of starch, typically larger than amylose due to its structure of linked chains. The video emphasizes the role of amylopectin in the formation of starch granules and how it interacts with water when heated, leading to the gelatinization process that affects the texture of bread. It is also mentioned in the context of the body's enzymes breaking down amylopectin to release sugars and create sweetness.

💡Gelatinization

Gelatinization is the process where starch granules absorb water and swell, leading to a change in texture. This process is crucial in bread making, as it is discussed in the video in relation to the Tangzhong and Yudane methods, where a portion of the flour is heated to gelatinize the starch. This pre-gelatinization results in a softer, fluffier bread that is less prone to staling. The video illustrates gelatinization by showing how heating starch with water or fat leads to a gel or paste, which is irreversible even after cooling.

💡Retrogradation

Retrogradation is the process where starch molecules recrystallize after the bread has cooled, leading to a firmer texture and the bread becoming stale. The video explains that this process is slowed down in breads made with pre-gelatinized starch, such as those using the Yudane method, because the starch molecules are shorter and thus less able to recrystallize. This results in a longer-lasting soft texture in the bread.

💡Tangzhong

Tangzhong is a Chinese bread-making technique mentioned in the video where a mixture of water, milk, and flour is simmered to create a roux. This pre-cooked mixture is then added to the dough for bread, which helps in achieving a soft and fluffy texture. The video discusses how Tangzhong contributes to the gelatinization of starch, leading to a bread that is less prone to staling.

💡Yudane

Yudane is a Japanese bread-making technique similar to Tangzhong, where boiling water is poured over flour and mixed, then allowed to rest before being incorporated into the bread dough. The video explains that Yudane also involves gelatinization of starch and results in a soft, fluffy bread that resists staling. It is used as an example of how different techniques can achieve similar outcomes in bread texture.

💡Flour

Flour is a powder made by grinding wheat seeds and is a primary ingredient in bread. The video provides a detailed composition of flour, highlighting that it is about 70-75% starch, which is crucial for the bread's texture. The discussion on flour in the video is integral to understanding how the starch within it contributes to the bread's characteristics, including its potential for softness and resistance to staling.

💡Glucose

Glucose is a simple sugar and a building block of starch molecules. In the video, glucose is mentioned in the context of starch molecules being composed of many glucose units strung together. The video also touches on how enzymes in our body can break down the starch into glucose, which is relevant to the discussion of why potatoes, despite being high in starch, do not taste sweet.

💡Enzymes

Enzymes are biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions. In the video, enzymes called amylases are mentioned as they play a role in breaking down starch into glucose, which is then perceived as sweetness. The video uses the example of salivary amylases starting to break down starch in the mouth, which is why food can start to taste sweet as it is chewed.

💡Staling

Staling refers to the process where bread becomes hard and loses its freshness over time. The video discusses how staling is related to the retrogradation of starch and how certain bread-making techniques, such as using pre-gelatinized starch in Yudane or Tangzhong methods, can delay staling by altering the starch's structure and making it less prone to recrystallize.

Highlights

The transcript discusses the process of making exceptionally fluffy bread using starch.

Starch plays a crucial role in the texture of bread, with its granules containing crystalline and amorphous regions.

Japanese milk bread is highlighted as an example of soft, fluffy bread made with a specific chemical process.

The process involves heating or scalding a portion of the flour to prevent the bread from going stale easily.

Flour composition is detailed, consisting mainly of proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, and starch.

Starch is a polysaccharide made up of glucose molecules, existing in two forms: amylose and amylopectin.

Starch granules are insoluble in water below 60 degrees Celsius but undergo gelatinization above this temperature.

The gelatinization process is irreversible and results in a sticky, gloopy texture useful for bread making.

Breads like Tangzhong and Yudane use heated flour starters to achieve their fluffiness and softness.

The experiment involves making three different loaves of bread with varying percentages of preheated starch.

The gelatinization process is gradual and occurs as the temperature rises, starting around 60 degrees Celsius in wheat flour.

The technique of pre-gelatinizing starch is used in various bread types, including milk bread and burnt wheat bread.

Boiling bagels before cooking them gelatinizes the starch on the outside, altering their texture.

Pre-gelatinized starch in bread leads to a softer texture due to the starch's interaction with water and fat molecules.

An increase in pregelatinized starch percentage results in higher saccharide and water content but lower volume and gas retention.

The bread with pregelatinized starch is softer and less prone to staling due to shorter starch chains and interactions with fat molecules.

Storing bread in the freezer can prevent staling as retrogradation, the process that causes bread to harden, does not occur when frozen.

The video concludes with a taste test of the breads, confirming the softness and freshness of the pre-gelatinized starch bread even after a week.

Transcripts

This is some of the fluffiest bread you can  possibly make. It is beautiful, sweet, soft, and  

stale resistant. So how do you make something so  delightful? Starch. It all comes down to starch.  

Inside tiny granules of starch are crystalline  and amorphous regions of polysaccharides,  

and if you push water deep into those structures  and break them apart, you can get this.

Okay, I'm losing it with bread. This  is Japanese milk bread. It is soft,  

fluffy and made with a very specific chemical  process in which you heat or scald a portion of  

the flour first. It's also not supposed  to go stale easily because of magic. Or  

chemistry or whatever, but more on that  later. We're going to put that chemistry  

to the test by making three different loaves  under different conditions. I am so excited  

just to eat a ton of delicious bread. I've  just been looking at this bread for a day.

But before I cut into it, we will first take  a closer look at one of the key bread making  

ingredients, flour. What the heck is in flour? I  mean, it's a powder that looks incredibly boring,  

but there's actually a lot that is happening  in this package. It's about 10 to 12% proteins,  

a small smattering of assorted  polysaccharides and lipids,  

and then usually about 70 to 75% starch,  and that is what we care about today.

Starch. So starch is a polysaccharide. Poly  meaning many and saccharide meaning sugar.  

So this is starch and it's made up of lots  of glucose molecules all strung together.  

Starch molecules usually come in two forms,  either amylose, which is a long linear chain,  

or amylopectin, which is a branched  molecule. Amylopectin is typically  

a much bigger molecule than amylose  because of all of the linked chains.

Starch is the main way that  plants store energy. At the end  

of photosynthesis a lot of the produced  glucose molecules are stored as starch,  

and that starch forms starch granules that vary  in size and shape between plants. The largest  

amounts are often found in seeds, roots  and tubers. Things like potatoes and yams.

I don't really know what I expected to happen  there. This is not good. Do not recommend.  

But you'd think with the amount of stored  sugars in a potato, that it would be sweet.  

But it's not because all of those glucose  molecules are strung together into starch,  

not free as sugar. But enzymes in our body  called amylases can break the amylose and  

amylopectin molecules down to make them sweet  and to free up all that sucrose, glucose.

There are lots of amylases in our saliva, so  if I let this sit in my mouth for a while,  

it should eventually start to taste sweet.  I don't recommend it though. You can also  

do this with saltines, but somebody in our  household ate all the saltines and left an  

empty box. So that demo's going to come later. Anyways, as I mentioned, besides tubers, seeds  

often store a lot of starch for developing plants.  So when you grind down wheat seeds to make flour,  

a lot of that flour is starch. If you zoom  in on starch granules, they have really cool  

structures. Starch granules grow from the outside,  adding layers on top of layers, so they end up  

having growth rings like a tree. Fun fact, some  experiments have shown that in cereal plants,  

which are unfortunately not Froot Loop trees, but  rather things like wheat, rye, oats, and barley,  

the starch granules grow in day-night cycles.  So they grow in the day when there's sunlight  

and then they stop at night creating a ring  each time. So if you keep a cereal plant like  

wheat growing in simulated continual daylight, its  starch granules won't have rings. That's so cool.

Within the granules, there are crystalline  regions with an ordered structure as well  

as amorphous. Within the granules, there  are crystalline regions with an ordered  

structure as well as amorphous regions  without. The crystalline zone is compact.  

This is attributed to double helices  forming between amylopectin molecules,  

binding them closely together. The amorphous  regions, on the other hand, are more likely due  

to interactions between amylose and amylopectin,  hence they're less ordered configuration.

So here's why this matters. Starch granules are  typically insoluble in water below 60 degrees  

Celsius. Now you can put them in water and  they will swell up a bit due to the diffusion  

and adsorption of water into the amorphous  regions, but if you dry them back out again,  

they'll return to their previous form.  But something magical happens above 60  

degrees Celsius. So this is a roux. It's a  combination of heated wheat flour and fat,  

and here I've used butter, that's used in lots  of different cuisines to thicken things like  

soups and sauces, and it's also used to make  the very best mac and cheese. Fight me on that.

If you heat starch like this, it'll start  to swell and form a gel or paste, and this  

is an irreversible process. Even after cooling  down, it's going to remain a gel or paste. This  

happens because water molecules from the fat get  in between the starch molecules, first entering  

the amorphous regions that we talked about. This  pushes the molecules apart and actually transmits  

disruptive forces into the crystalline regions  as well, breaking some of the starch molecules  

free from the rest of the starch granule.  This turns it all sticky and usefully gloopy. 

Now, if the water content is above 60%,  this process is called gelatinization.  

If it's below this, it's called melting or also  referred to as a dual transition regime. Regime? 

Regime. But we have lost  

the bread thread. What does this have to do  with my fluffy bread? Well, breads like this  

have histories in both China and Japan, and they  use heated flour starters to get their textures. 

Tangzhong, the Chinese iteration of this, is made  by simmering water, milk, and flour together.  

Yudane, which originated in Japan, is made instead  by pouring boiling water over the flour and then  

mixing them together and letting it sit before you  make the rest of the bread. Now, in both cases,  

it is not all of the flour, but just a small  portion that is added to the later dough mixture.  

By adding these small portions of preheated  starch, the resulting bread should be fluffier  

and softer due to the starch gelatinization. Sure, I could just tell you this, but I could also  

explain with bread. So here comes the delicious  experiment. I'm going to make the same recipe  

at least three ways. One with no Tangzhong, one  with 6%, and one with 12%. Why these ratios? Well,  

because I had a recipe and that made the math  easiest. We're going to do six, which is what the  

recipe recommended, and then zero and then double  it, make it 12. Math. Then if I'm really crazy,  

I only have three loaf pans, but we might make  some other loaves too just to see how it goes. 

Doing the roux, or scalding or Yudane,  or Tangzhong process like this before  

baking gives that starch time to gelatinize  before you start actually making the bread,  

rather than just waiting for it to  happen during the baking process  

itself. The gelatinization process is gradual  and happens as the temperature slowly rises. 

For example, in wheat flour, the gelatinization  typically starts around 60 degrees Celsius and  

continues until about 85 degrees Celsius.  Doing this process in a controlled fashion  

before baking ensures that a greater proportion  of the starch is going to undergo gelatinization  

than might just during baking itself,  ensuring a nice softer bread texture. 

Now, this technique is used in multiple  different kinds of bread, including milk bread,  

but also pane grano arso, or burnt wheat bread  in Italy. This gelatinization is the same reason  

why you boil bagels before cooking them. That  hot water gelatinizes the starch on the outside  

of the bagel, giving it a different texture  to the non-gelatinized starch on the inside.  

Just blew your mind didn't I? Okay, so we're around 160 Fahrenheit.  

Elaine, you can put what that is in Celsius on the  screen. But yeah, we're really thickening up here. 

Okay, so this is my 12%. I'm at a step where I  got to punch it down and roll it out and all that,  

but it's the most appealing to look  at and it rose the most. So I'm kind  

of liking it, but it is a little sticky. Elaine, I think this is just for you because  

there's no way that ACS is going to be cool with  this. This is not a cooking channel. Oh, shoot. 

Now there's a research paper that looks at how  the structure of bread changes as you change the  

percentage of Yudane. As the percentage increased,  so too did the saccharide and water content of the  

bread. However, at the same time, volume and gas  retention went down. This is likely because the  

gelatinization impacts the gluten structure  in the bread, and so it's probably a little  

less structurally sound and can't quite  hold up as big of a structure. However,  

a less sturdy bread also means a softer bread. So let's see. Now I get to show you the bread  

that I made and then I get to try it. I'm  very, very, very excited about this. Okay,  

so this is the bread just made using non  gelatinized flour. It looks fine from the  

outside. It does not have a lot of give, but I  also don't want to crush it. So like bread, bread. 

This is the bread made using the recommended  amount of pregelatinized starch. It's a little  

bit softer. I can feel that, but actually  it looks pretty similar from the outside.  

This one, my final one, is the bread that I  made using double the amount of pregelatinized  

starch. Couple things you might notice. It's got  a valley in it. I think two things happened. One,  

it might be too soft to support a structure. Fair,  interesting. Two, I forgot... Well, I noticed I  

had to play with the liquid ratios a little bit  to get this to be something even close to a dough  

because just putting in the recommended amount  of milk plus the recommended amount of the  

pregelatinized starch, it was too much liquid.  So then I had to add a little bit more flour,  

but I think there just might have been  too much liquid. This was a wet dough. 

It's a little dense. It's got a crumb, but  we got some nice air bubbles in there. I'd  

eat this bread. I will eat this bread. Let's  be real. I'm going to eat all these breads.  

Yeah, I think that's a little softer. Might be  

placebo effect. No, it's a softer bread. Sad bread number three, oh, it is raw at  

the bottom. Great British Bake Off would yell  at me for this. It's very soft though. I wonder  

if this guy baked longer would've been  okay. All right. This is bread number one.  

You toast that, you put some butter and  honey on it. Oh my god, it's a nice bread.  

This is my appropriately pre gelatinized bread. I  do think it's softer. I don't know that it's that  

much sweeter. No side by side there is maybe  a little sweetness difference there. Okay,  

I'm bought in. I like it. Let's try my sad bread.  

That one is so fluffy, so soft.  Can't believe I'm saying this.  

I got to do this again, and I got  to do this one and I got to bake  

it longer. The portion of the bread  that is baked is so soft and so nice.  

All of them are delicious. The one I want  to keep eating though is the mutant one. 

But there's another special thing about this  bread. It's not supposed to go stale. When  

bread cools down, the starch molecules inside of  them start to set with water molecules gradually  

pushed away from the starch. The bread becomes  soft and chewy rather than gel-like and this is  

a good thing and it's called retrogradation. But  after it sits for a long time, the retrogradation  

continues and the starch fractions reassociate  in different forms and rates creating crystalline  

and amorphous zones. This can affect the texture  of the bread causing it to harden and go stale. 

Except that's not quite the case in this  bread. When that starch pregelatinized in the  

Yudane before baking, it becomes more prone to  breakdown during the baking process by amylases  

found in the flour. This means that there are more  sugars present, giving it a sweeter taste, but it  

also means that the average length of the starch  molecules becomes shorter. Since retrogradation  

requires starches of a minimum length to  happen, Yudane bread tends to have shorter  

chains on average than other bread. This means  it experiences less retrogradation and staling. 

Additionally, in many breads, fat molecules in  the dough interact with the gelatinized molecules,  

creating a kind of support structure that  also delays this staling or retrogradation.  

More gelatinized molecules in the Tangzhong or  Yudane bread means more opportunities for this  

interaction and fresher bread longer. So through the power of video magic,  

we're going to fast-forward a few  days and then see how I feel about  

how stale these loaves are then. Time travel. Before I get into testing the staleness of bread.  

Learning the science of how starch behaves in  the kitchen to make this video has absolutely  

changed the way that I think about using starch  in cooking, and I think is going to change the way  

that I cook forever. It has changed the way  that I think about adding starch to sauces,  

to thicken them. It has changed the way that I  think about why if you put mashed potatoes in  

the blender, they're going to get all gluey. Why  when I was boiling beans for dinner last night,  

the water was all bubbly and stiff  bubbles that were sticking together.  

It has changed how I cook in the last week. Okay, let's judge bread staleness. This is  

my very scientific poke test. It's stiff  now. It's very, there's not a lot of give,  

especially around the edges. We got a stiff  bread. This is the one with the pregelatinized  

starch and there is a noticeable difference.  It is a little stiffer around the edges,  

but the center is just much softer. Oh, our  poor said weirdo loaf. This doesn't seem fair.  

It was raw on the bottom. I'm sorry loaf of  bread. Oh, major difference. This one, stiff  

bread on both sides. This one is still softer.  Much more give in the pre gelatinized bread. 

Taste test. Yeah, I think that's stale. I'll  eat anything. I'm the worst person to do this  

test. So yeah, it's a little stale, but it's  fine. This one is our pre gelatinized bread.  

Yeah, it's definitely still softer. I'd say  it's probably still past its prime as well,  

but it's been a week since I baked them. Had I  only baked one and had I not been specifically  

saving them, I probably would've eaten all this  bread by now. I think it would have remained  

not stale within the period of time in which I  would've happily eaten a whole loaf of bread. 

Now if you have any kind of bread that goes stale,  you actually can reheat it in the microwave and  

that will temporarily cause gelatinization  to occur. Again, rebonding starch molecules  

with water and temporarily creating a softer  texture. But once it cools back down again,  

it's going to be stale. You can also try  and prevent staling in any bread in how  

you store it. Retrogradation happens faster at  cooler temperatures, so putting your bread in  

the fridge is actually going to make it go stale  faster. But it will not retrograde when frozen. So  

your best bet is to actually put your bread in the  freezer and you just toast it up when you want it. 

But no matter how you slice it, and  I will not apologize for this pun,  

you got to try some bread with  gelatinized starches. It is delicious.  

Can we also put a disclaimer at some point in  this video that this is a chemistry channel  

and not a cooking channel? You should not  take my advice on how to make this bread.