Don’t you hate it when bread spoils? Not only is it a waste of money, but it’s also really annoying to reach into what looks like a good loaf of sliced bread, only to pull out a slice that has started going green in the middle. And if you simply freeze the bread, the slices stick together and are then impossible to separate unless you thaw the whole loaf.
This used to be my dilemma, until I discovered, via trial and error, the best way to freeze bread (only pre-sliced bread) so that the slices do not stick together. Here’s how to do it:
The Best Way to Freeze Bread
Step One: Buy or Make Pre-Sliced Bread
Duh. Any bread is fine, so long as it’s pre-sliced. It does not matter how moist or dry it is. I really like the Alpine Valley Organic, which I buy from Costco and get shipped to my door via Google Express.
Step Two: Separate the Slices
So this is where the innovation comes in. What you have to do is put your hand into the loaf wrapper package, and use your fingers to completely separate every bread slice from the others. Just go sequentially and separate each slice, until you get to the end.
Run your fingers through the package and separate all the slices
Keep going until the end
If you’d like, remove and eat or discard the “butts” at the beginning and end of each loaf. Since such “butts” are very thin, they tend to really stick to the bread, and are hard to pull off later.
Step Three: Put the Loaf In the Freezer, Immediately
The critical word here is “immediately”. Right after you separate the last slice, re-close the package, and throw it in the freezer. Do not wait more than one minute, because the slices will stick together again, negating the entire process.
Step Four: Remove the Bread Before Use
In order to eat the bread, start by removing the loaf from the freezer, and pulling apart the slices you need. If you did everything correctly, the slices should come apart with minimal pulling.
The frozen bread comes apart easily
Step Five: Put the Remaining Loaf Back in the Freezer Immediately
Again, time is of the essence. If you put the unused portion of the loaf on your kitchen counter for more than a few minutes, the bread will begin to thaw, and the slices may stick together again. So just put it in the freezer right after taking the slices you need.
Step Six: Toast the Bread
The only really effective way to thaw and heat the frozen bread is to toast it. Just toast the frozen bread on a higher setting than you would toast room-temperature bread. It should come out virtually the same as if you had never frozen it.
Summing It Up: The Best Way to Freeze Bread
So there you have it. The best way to freeze bread is to separate the slices by hand, freezing it right away, and then toasting it when you want to eat it. You can freeze it at any time before it starts to spoil but, as a best-practices matter, it’s better to do it right after you buy it, so as to maintain maximum freshness.
How do you freeze your bread?
Ah! That bread looks so yummy and I now feel very hungry ;). Sounds like an excellent idea… I’ll try it out.
Awesome! Yeah, I love that Costco bread, it’s actually tasty and whole grain at the same time. There’s also a Trader Joe’s bread that’s just as good, though I forget the name…
Your method does not work for home baked bread which is sliced.