freezing bread
Hi I have "lurking" around this site for a few months now. I must say the quality and quantity of information here is staggering. Although I love my cookbooks there is info on this site that you would never be able to find in a book. All with a personal touch! I have been baking sourdough sandwich bread from JMOnkey with great success. I have a small family and since I was baking 4 loaves at a time I have had to freeze some loaves. I took one out today (after being frozen for 2 weeks). It had lost some of its moistness. I had frozen it in a freezer plastic bag. Anyone with any hints on proper technique for freezing fresh bread. I am sure many of you don't have this problem as your bread looks so good and probably never makes it any where near a freezer. Thanks for the feedback. Bakerincanada.
My stuff gets frozen. Usually the rolls or other baked goods like scones and pastries.
I find freezing does effect the quality of all of them, usually makes them dry and alters the taste. You could freeze your dough rather than your baked bread. A few people here do it, and if you take it out 24hours ahead of time and defrost the dough in the refrisgerator you will be able to make fresh bread for your family instead of freezing it.
I have yet to try this, and now that I have told you I think I might try it.
Sorry I dont have any advice for the keeping of baked goods.
bakerincanada
Let me know how that works. I too might try my own experiment. Do you think freezing would affect ther rising power of the sourdough? Rose Levy Berenbaum recommends using 10-25% more yeast if planning to freeze shaped dough. She also recommends freezing the dough for only 2 weeks. I would probably shape the dough and then freeze. Would you let your shaped dough rise at all before freezing? Thanks
I cant remember what the thread about freezing dough said exactly. I would think that I would defrost it in the fridge then take it out and let it warm up and either shape it or give it a fold then let it rise and shape.
I am not experienced with sour dough as it is, but I would do something similar with yeasted doughs.
TGB
I follow the advice of Peter Reinhart in the BBA (so much good advice in that book!) and deli wrap my loaves that will be frozen. This means tightly wrapping them lengthwise and width-wise with plastic wrap and making the wrap as airtight as possible. I then overwrap them with aluminum foil. This method has kept my baguettes quite tasty after a couple weeks of freezer storage.
I wrap my loaves, rolls, buns, etc., in bread bags that I purchased through the KA website, but before I tie them off I take a drinking straw and suck the excess air from the bag, keeping as tight a wrap as I can on the bag without creating any tension against the baked bread. I've had success at keeping bread up to a month in my freezer. Hope this helps.
I use plastic wrap & foil, like LinyD...I just make sure it's tight to the loaf...I like the regular foil (not heavy duty), it's thinner & easier to get close to the crust, my bread freezes pretty good with that method................still nothing like fresh from the oven!
I just had a sad thought that some people may never have the experience of fresh bread from the oven...it's one of lifes pleasures that I'm thankful for...Beth
BakerinCanada
One additonal thought, based on personal experience; it's hard to keep bread for more than a week in the freezer without losing some moisture, no matter how you wrap it, short of shrink wrapping it (Cryovac or Food Saver) to prevent any moisture from being drawn out of the bread. I use a Food Saver to shrink wrap meats and fish to eliminate freezer burn but not bread. With a frost-free, which automatically eliminates moisture and ice build-up inside the freezer/refrigerator you're fighting a losing battle from the get-go. The main funtion of a frost-free fridge is to suck up all the moisture inside the freezer...which, unfortunately includes the moisture in your bread. I noticed that bran muffins that I make in quantity and freeze really take a hit (reducing slightly in size and getting a bit of freezer burn sometimes) when left for more than 2 weeks in the freezer. Also, after freezing and thawing baguettes/batards the crusts become more brittle and pieces fall or fly away (more so than when taken from the oven and cooled on racks and then cut) as the serrated knife cuts through the previously frozen crusts. For good or ill, I keep my freezer cranked upp to 90% max. cold temp.
HO
Freezing bread in the refridgerator freezer can be very drying. A home freezer that is not frost free is very much less drying and for that reason I have a very small chest freezer. I also keep most of my grain and nuts and seeds in it, not else actually except for some precooked meals. I am a single empty nester and even if I only make 2 loaf batches I need to freeze 1 loaf.
Bonnie
I am sure I read somewhere, that if you thaw the bread in its wrapping in the refrigerator, it stays more moist than if you unwrap or thaw at room temperature.
bread will stale faster in the fridg than room temp
why not try this make the dough then take half and frezz the raw dough. you must wrip it in plastic and put in in the coldest part of the frezzer.
it will rise a little before it is completly frozen
place it in the fridg over night to thaw
it will finish the rise in the fridg even though it might not look like it
shap and pat and let it sit at room temp to proof covered of course then bake,
i have things like rolls and danish as well as rye bread live uncooked in the frezzer for 4 to 6 weeks and still bake fine
ps cake yeast works best for any dough that will be forzzen