Bread as a gift: freeze the loaves or the dough?
Good afternoon. So far everyone has been fantastic at answering questions, so here I am again. Now, I know that loaves can be kept pretty well when frozen and that dough is often refrigerated to slow the rise. What I do not know is the best way to tackle my new project. I used to bake fresh loaves off and on during my last two years of college, but since graduating I have access to a better kitchen and have started making a lot more. As a gift to my girlfriend I am hoping to make her a number of sandwich loaves and freeze them. She is not much of a bread baker herself, but like anyone else she loves fresh bread. So, what is the best way to manage this? If I can freeze dough that gives her the freedom to make other sorts of bread and the smell of fresh bread. If I were to freeze dough, how should I do it? Let it rise and then freeze it, make the dough and freeze it straight away? Or would it really be better to make the loaves? Keep in mind that the dough might be frozen for a period of several weeks. Anyway, thanks for the help. Sorry if the post is full of typos, repeats or weird formatting, I am typing on a phone trying to make sure said girlfriend does not read what I am writing. --- Jeremy