Oct 13, 2010

Works for Me: Freezing Bread

My parents always froze bread when I was growing up, so I've always done it too. But the other day, my friend K. mentioned that she kept having to throw out stale bread and buy a fresh loaf for her son's school sandwiches. And I realized that not everybody freezes bread to keep it fresh. But it really works.

I've found that store bought sliced bread usually freezes great and it's easy to peel off just one or two slices at a time.

My homemade sliced bread seems to be more delicate, and I find that I have to freeze it with the slices staggered in order to guarantee easy removal. As you can see in the photo, I just slide the staggered slices into a zip top freezer bag. They never last long enough to suffer freezer burn (I make a loaf every one to two weeks, depending on how many sandwiches we eat).

K. was worried that the bread would be frozen and/or soggy when her son went to eat his sandwich. But I assured her that bread defrosts very quickly, and would be thawed enough for her to cut the sandwich by the time she was done making his sandwich. Using an oil-based condiment such as mayonnaise (me) or butter (K.) prevents the bread from becoming soggy.

Find more Works for Me Wednesday Tips at We Are THAT Family.

3 comments:

megan @ whatmegansmaking said...

Great tip! I actually posted a similar WFMW tip last week - great minds think alike :)

Christina said...

I freeze bread that I get at the day old bread outlet all the time and it works great!

I have a terrible time freezing any kind of hamburger or hotdog buns. Do you have any ideas for freezing those so they don't get all freezer burned?

Chief Family Officer said...

@Megan - Nice to "meet" you - I'm going to check out your blog now :)

@Christina - Ugh, I know what you mean and unfortunately, I don't have any special secrets. I usually buy very few buns (just one bag) and don't keep them for long (I'm also going to try making my own buns now that I have more time in the kitchen). My only suggestion would be individually wrapping them and putting them in a thicker bag than the one they come in. Sorry I can't help more!