par baking vs freezing fully baked
It is now only me and an 8 year old, and we do not consume as much bread as we did when we were a larger family. We no longer can consume a full loaf in less than a week and often I have found myself PURCHASING bread (horrors!) because of time constraints.
I am trying to be more efficient with my time , and am contemplating doing bulk baking and then freezing the majority of the product for later use.
My question is : would I receive a better quality by par baking the loaves, and then freezing, and finishing baking when I am ready to use, or should i complete the baking , then freezer, and thaw when ready to use?
I currently bake my bread at 425 for 25 minutes with a lid in a loaf pan, and then 25 minutes without the lid . I am thinking that to par bake, I would complete the first part of baking, then remove from the oven and freeze?
Any other ideas or suggestions for those of you with smaller families or who consume less bread?
TIA
Sandy
I bake fully then freeze half the loaf wrapped in foil and in a zip lock bag. I let it thaw completely before removing it from the bag. Works well for me.
I have considered par baking. I bet it should be based on internal temperature, not time but I haven't done it.
I do not par bake. I place the cooled baked loaf in a sealable bag and freeze until I am ready to thaw and eat. I may cut the loaf in half then seal it in a plastic bag. It works for me.
Ford
I let the loaf cool off completely and then slice and freeze the slices in a plastic container (reusable, no waste). I turn every pair of slices 90 degrees so I can easily separate them when they're frozen. Then I either thaw the whole container overnight, or, if I'm about to bake anyway and only need a couple of slices, I take two out and toast them straight away. Works well for me.
I bake, cool then slice. I freeze in ziplock bags either in pairs, fours or the whole sliced loaf and just remove what I need when I need it. I have never par baked.
good luck
Leslie
I have found that if I didn't have time to make bread, I inevitably didn't have time or didn't remember to finish baking the par-baked bread. So I generally baked completely, cool, slice and package by half-loafs. But I still really enjoyed the smell of that loaf baking. It is as good as eating chocolate for me on those rushed, stressful days. Sit back and inhale that wonderful bread perfume.
So do a little of both. Make some smaller loaves,parbake and freeze. Make some bread through to completion,cool,slice,freeze.
Always enjoy!
Thank you all for your input. It is appreciated.
Cooling the loaf, slicing it then freezing it. When you want to enjoy your handiwork just pop them into the toaster (straight from the freezer), it works well for us and we have never had any of the slices stick to each other in the freezer (although that's a possibility). Enjoy!