If the bread is stored for a number of days, the crust and crumb stale and result in spoilage.
Crust Staling Initially the crust is relatively dry, crisp and brittle. Upon staling it becomes soft and leathery. It loses its original aroma and flavour. An off-flavour develops. During crust staling, moisture from the crumb is transferred to the crust and due to hygroscopic properties; the crust absorbs moisture and becomes soft and leathery. The use of wax paper in wrapping favours the crust staling as it prevents moisture loss from the crust.
Crumb Staling Due to loss of moisture, the crumb becomes hard and more crumbly. Flavour gets deteriorated. Staling is associated with the gradual and spontaneous aggregation of the amylopectin giving rise to crystalline structure. This aggregation of amylopectin is less firm than that involved in the retrogradation of amylose and can be reversed by warming the bread to about 50°C. Bread stored at low temperature (O°C) hardens to a greater extent than that stored at higher temperature (40-45°). But the bread stored at high temperature develops an off-flavour and the crumb turns brown.
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