Does wheat or white bread mold faster?and why?

What ingredients most affect bread mold growth?

• I'm doing a science project for biology and my question is "What types of bread grow mold the fastest". I have to complete a background about one and half pages long, so I need some information. I have searched the internet, but have not found much usful information for a 9th grader. I was also wondering about the main ingredients found in bread that most affect mold growth (any kind of mold growth)and was thinking about using that list to help pick the type of bread (sourdough, wheat, white, etc)that would mold the most/fastest by seeing how many of those ingredients were in the types of bread. thanks so much for your help!

• Answer:

  Great idea! The biggest thing is moisture and temperature. While the temperature will be a constant, the moisture content of the bread will not be. The drier breads should be more resistant to growth. Make sure they're all the same freshness! The other would be presence of a inhibitor, which some breads may naturally possess. This could be a high salt content or something else. Starch will be the main food source, so carbohydrate amount will also matter (you can look this up by looking at the nutritional facts and looking for the amount of carbohydrate. It's important to do this by carbs/gram, since the serving size could be different) Things that are artificially fortified may also support growth, but some preservatives may inhibit growth. Really what you should do is get several types of bread and describe them in detail before the experiment. You can use qualitative measurements for moisture, saltiness, etc. And some quantitative things like amount of carbs etc. You can also test breads that have preservatives against the same bread without the preservatives (making sure everything else about the breads are constant). Also, check storage - whether its better that the bread is in a dark place or a light place. You only need a slice of bread, so you can do a lot with a loaf!