# Honey and Bread



## SilverFox (Apr 25, 2003)

My daughter (26yr old) just asked a question that I don't know how to answer, so HELP.  
"Why, when you spread honey on bread does the bread turn 'crunchy' or hard???"
HELP, inquiring minds want to know.


----------



## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Silver
When you mix it with peanut butter it will do that, I think it is crystallizing. I will experiment tonight


----------



## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

In the interest of science, I too will try both the peanut butter, bread, and honey combo.

Seriously, I would think that the honey is near crystallization to start and requires just a nudge in the form of a "seed".


----------



## daniel G. (Feb 24, 2005)

No it is not near crystallization. I have had the same experience and have used honey that is fresh and it to makes the bread crunchy. Must be a reaction tot he yeast in the bread maybe.


----------



## SilverFox (Apr 25, 2003)

Sundance; It is fresh honey no more than a month old


----------



## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

Ahhhhh I see, twas just a thought. I know Canola honey from here sugars very fast.


----------



## SilverFox (Apr 25, 2003)

Yup'er just plain ol' "field" honey, what ever my girls visit and bring home, including some sunflower, fire-weed, blackberry, vine maple, Black locust, hawthorn, Spanish lavender, cat nip, spear mint, peppermint, broccoli, and Dahlia, what ever trips their trigger and they like.


----------



## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

I asked my wife (the highly-educated professional
baker) about this, and she had never seen this
phenomena before. Neither had I. We both 
consume lots of honey, often on baked goods.

I tested this today, and on both store-bought 
(loaded with chemicals) and bakery (nothin' but 
flour, water, yeast, salt) breads, I saw and felt 
no "crunchy" effect, even after a 2-hour exposure
time at temps in the 70s. Sadly, all the lab
samples were consumed during testing.









Could this be unique to certain brands of bread?
Might someone list specific breads where this
happens consistently?

Honey is hygroscopic as heck, that's about all
I could think of as a possible mechanism to make
bread suddenly "crunchy", assuming of course, 
that we are not toasting the bread.

In short, what are you guys smoking, and can
I have some?


----------



## SilverFox (Apr 25, 2003)

SHHHHH  knick-knick and catnip with a hint of pepper mint.  
I guess crunchy isn't the right word, maybe 'more solid' for lack of a better term. It is not in a fluid state and maybe just seems 'crunchy'??
I don' know???? So any ideas will and can definitely help.
This appears to be getting interesting.


----------



## BubbaBob (Jan 18, 2005)

I just brought in a 5 gal pail of honey from the honey house and bought 12 doz loaves of bread for testing...if I'm not heard from again it's because I overloaded my diabetes and kicked off...I designate Sundance as my replacement libertarian/conservative...<g>.

BubbaBob


----------



## SilverFox (Apr 25, 2003)

ROFL,ROFL,ROFL,  What a way to go.


----------



## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

BB...... My liberal home boys have nixed the idea but thanks for the kind consideration. Who says you conservatives don't have a heart......


----------



## Phoenix (May 26, 2004)

> "Why, when you spread honey on bread does the bread turn 'crunchy' or hard???"


I'm not sure why this happens, but I had experienced the same phenomenon recently, and thought it was a fluke. 

I normally assemble my sandwich right away, first spreading the PB on one half then honey on the other half and jam the two slices together, but don't like the honey dripping down my hand, so I had an idea to apply the honey first, allowing it time to soak in as I spread the PB on the other half. It looked to have soaked into the slice of bread as I had finished the slathering the other half with the PB, problem solved, no more honey dripping. As I consumed my masterpiece, I noticed a crunchy type texture to my sandwich, of which consisted of creamy PB, Great Lakes Honey, and "Hillbilly" whole wheat bread. I didn't think much of it until I read this thread, so I had to research this a little further.

I posted the results in my blog... PB & H Experiment.


----------



## BubbaBob (Jan 18, 2005)

Bruce...you asked the homies? Of course...I should have known...typical bedwetting liberal group mentality herd instinct.

I much prefer the libertarian, conservative individualistic type of thinking. Less chance of becoming myrmadons...bless y'alls' hearts.

BubbaBob

BTW...I'm beginning to like the word y'all's. So many things you can do with it.

y'all's...you all, individually, showing possesion.

y'alls'...you all, plural, showing possesion.

Anyone think of another variation?


----------



## Phoenix (May 26, 2004)

I was under the impression that "y'alls" was singular, and "all y'alls" was plural.

Now I'm confused...


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

"Y'all could be either singular or plural depending on where you are. "All y'all" is plural no matter where you are. "Y'all's" is posseive as in "it belongs to y'all".


----------



## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

> I was under the impression that "y'alls" was singular, and "all y'alls" was plural.


That's the way I understand it. We had a visiting pastor last year who was serving communion. He was a Southern boy. We're a pretty somber group during this sacrement, and used to doing things a certain way including using the proper words. He stood behind the table, looked up, and said "OK, all y'all come on down here and get some of this...". I cracked up, and it turned out to be a pretty nice service.


----------



## ScadsOBees (Oct 2, 2003)

Y'all, y'alls, you alls, and hey there!

As for the crunchy bread question, I don't know the whys. I have definately noticed this phenominon also. If you put the butter on first, this protects the bread from getting crunchy, but then the honey runs off quicker. And once you put the honey on, don't drop it, the honey will ALWAYS hit the floor first.

I enjoy sour-cream dougnuts (or whatever they are called in your area) for the same reason, the sugar glaze somewhat absorbs into the dough, preserving the crunchyness.

One theory that I've assembled is that the high sugar content of the honey strengthens the carbohydrates of the bread. Or it could just cause the moisture in the bread to suddenly be supersaturated with sugars, so that it isn't just soft an moist anymore. Can you tell I spend a lot of time babysiting my kids?


----------



## BubbaBob (Jan 18, 2005)

y'all...singular non-possesive. "Y'all ever gonna ask Billie Jo out to dinner?"

y'all...plural non-possesive. (to a friend and his wife) Y'all gonna come over to the house and have a beer?

y'all's...singular possesive. (to your friend Billy Bob)"Y'all's house is gettin' too small...ya better figger out what's causing Billie Jo to get pregnant before you run out of room."

<<And once you put the honey on, don't drop it, the honey will ALWAYS hit the floor first.>>

This brings up an interesting question. Since cats always land on their feet, and buttered bread always lands butter side down, what happens if you duct tape a piece of buttered bread, butter side up, to the back of a cat, then drop the cat?

Does the cat land on it's feet, or does the bread land buttered side down?

BubbaBob

y'alls'...plural possesive. "Billy Bob and Billie Jo, you better start jes sleepin' when you go to bed at night...y'alls' house is gettin' too small for that family."


----------



## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

As a Yankee (according to some)I always thought a Y'all was something Southern folks(not to be confused with ******** or hillbillys') used to move furniture and stuff when they move. You know, have different states on them, orange and silver color! What we would call a U-Haul!


----------



## BubbaBob (Jan 18, 2005)

pffffttt!!! joel, yer a yankee allright.

BubbaBob


----------



## Hillside (Jul 12, 2004)

You've just created perpetual motion. The cats stays spining rapidly a few inches above the floor.

As for grammatical structure, y'all, y'alls, y'all's, y'all's's? Let's just say youse guys is crazy. (Worded like the old germans that lived around me as I was growing up.)


----------



## Hillside (Jul 12, 2004)

oops. The cat stays spinning. Some day I should learn to proof my posts.


----------



## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

I like "younz" better!!!!


----------



## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

My wife would add something in front of the Yankee! Of course as I spend increasing amounts of time among the gentile in SC eating the local version of shredded pork, great greasy mashed potatoes and either liver (yeyuck) or red eyed gravy (it taste like coffee and ketchup mixed) I find myself seduced by a kinder, gentler, less harried way of life. I've found that when I sucker one of my unsupecting friends to help move a load South they always pick up the Drawl in 3 to 4 days.


----------



## ChellesBees (Apr 1, 2003)

Hey Rick (Scadsobees)
Real dads don't babysit-they parent. the babysitter is the teenager down the road. Not a big deal, but I get frustrated when people would ask if my husband was babysitting. He's their parent too, and so to call it babysitting just really devalues it.


----------



## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

Boy you stepped into it there Rick!!  

Have to agree with chellesbees here. Dads do not babysit. Make amens......


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I like "younz" better!!!!

That's the Southern Illinois version. Although I think I would have spelled (spelt it?) it "you'ins"


----------



## BubbaBob (Jan 18, 2005)

"you'ins"

What letter does the apostrophe substitute for in that contraction?

BubbaBob


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>What letter does the apostrophe substitute for in that contraction?

I have no idea.







But without it how would you know how to pronounce it?


----------



## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

Here it is younz!!!!


----------



## Hill's Hivery (Jan 7, 2005)

Actually, Younz is more of a SOuthern KY thing.

We up har in thar hills o suthrn IL prefer the phrase y'all.


----------



## SilverFox (Apr 25, 2003)

Alright 'youse' guy.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>We up har in thar hills o suthrn IL prefer the phrase y'all

It seems to vary a lot in Southern IL. I grew up in Greenville, IL and my grandparents and Uncles and Aunts lived in Mt. Vernon, IL. I don't remember exactly where I heard what, but I distinctly remember a lady in Mt. Vernon saying "you'ins" (or Younz). I hadn't heard it in Greenville.









When I went back to Greenville for my 30th class reunion (they invited me even though I graduated from Gering, NE, but I went to school in Greenville with those same kids for 10 years) I realized we all had a Southern twang. I never noticed it when I lived there.

I always thought the white squirrels in Olney were the coolest squirrels anywhere.









But the black ones in Omaha, NE are ALMOST as striking.


----------



## Hillside (Jul 12, 2004)

Ok, back to honey and crunch bread. 

I've been eating a fair amount of it the past several days and I think the bread pulls enough moisture out of the honey that the honey crystalizes. But it doesn't always happen. Maybe it has to do with the freshness of the bread?

Can't prove a thing, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Of course, with all the honey on my hands I'm sticking to almost everything.


----------



## SilverFox (Apr 25, 2003)

Hey Mike go over to Missouri Valley, Iowa and check out their black fox squirrel's. 
Thank you Hillside. Hope to hear more answers.
You all.


----------



## ScadsOBees (Oct 2, 2003)

I'm glad you feel that way about parenting and I do to, but that is just a flip way of refering to it...

I have a baby, and when I take care of him I am usually sitting. I could have called it toddlerrunning too, since I have one of those too, but people don't understand that word much.  I have plenty of other times to parent, babysitting just describes the few hours a week that my wife leaves me alone with them and those usually aren't my shining parenting times







I get to do plenty of both.


----------



## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

I can't get my honey to crunch on the bread without peanut butter. Maybe have to buy some store bought bread.

Incidentally, "you'ins" is a contraction of "youse ins"


----------



## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

Bread+honey+peanut butter=crunchy even more when bread is labeled saltines.
Baby-sitting comes before watching rug-rats, which comes before chasing yard-apes.
You'ins is short for "you young ones","young'uns",you'uns
Check your ******* dictionary
I'll send you mine soon as I write it.


----------



## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

I wonder if it makes any difference in the bread and honey crystalization as to the type of honey being used?


----------



## Phoenix (May 26, 2004)

> Maybe have to buy some store bought bread.


Does the homemade bread include honey as an ingredient to start with David?



> I wonder if it makes any difference in the bread and honey crystalization as to the type of honey being used?


I've used honey from different sources to see if the type of honey was a factor... didn't make a difference.

I wonder if the bread absorbs moisture out of the honey, or if the honey absorbs moisture out of the bread...


----------



## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

We studied this when I was in school in the food lab a few years ago. 

It is because the temprature of bread internally is slightly colder than the honey... dependong on some factors.

If you poor the honey onto a slice of bread, the underlining part of the honey will be be colder and it hardens a little while the top is not cool.

You will see if if you have experiance with sugar work and have a microscope. We doubted this theory until we saw that it was true.


----------



## beebarf (Feb 14, 2003)

Put a piece of bread in the refridgerator and try it when its cold. See if it happens faster. Then "nuke" a piece for 10 seconds in microwave and try. (I'm too lazy too).


----------

