Number of program on Recent menu is fixed at 10

In addition to some sort of setting to customize how many items are in the recent folder, I'd like to be able to set up a filter for programs that should not be listed. There are some programs (web browser, email client, etc.) that I use constantly, and don't want them taking up space in the recent items menu. Currently, I can right click an item in the recent menu and select hide, but doing so seems to "break" the menu eventually, and new items are no longer added.