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If you’ve got a habit of leaving your bread on the counter, then you’ll know that it can turn bad all too quickly in the open air. After that? Into the trash. But that’s actually not the right way to do things. Nathan Myhrvold, founder of Modernist Cuisine and co-author of Modernist Bread at Home, revealed that by using your freezer, you can maintain bread’s day-one flavor and texture for months at a time.
“Bread freezes and thaws better than almost any other food,” Myhrvold explains. “That’s why we always store bread in the freezer if we aren’t going to use it within a couple of days.” The reason has to do with the fascinating science behind freezing. As explained by Myhrvold, “Freezing bread means that you’re also freezing the water in it, effectively stopping it in its tracks.”
But don’t just toss the entire loaf in the freezer and call it a day. Instead, divide your bread into daily portions so you only need to thaw what you’ll use in one day. Wrap each portion tightly with two layers of plastic wrap to shield against freezer burn, then label the package with the date you froze it for easy tracking. The bread should stay perfectly fresh up until you need it — even if that’s several weeks later. When you’re ready, just thaw and bake it in the oven until it’s nice and crispy again!
Thawing out your frozen bread
Need bread? Thaw it! Just bring it out of the freezer and let it sit on a wire rack at room temperature. “Depending on the mass of the loaf and the ambient temperature, this can take about one hour for a baguette or up to three hours for a two-kilograms/4.4-pound loaf,” said Myhrvold. But a tip from the pro: you don’t want it to actually go right down to room temperature. Instead, you want it to still be a bit cold by the time you pop it into the oven. “If you leave the bread a little cold (but not frozen) before refreshing it, it will slice more easily and cleanly than room-temperature bread does.”
Once it’s nice and thawed, wrap the loaf in aluminum foil, and in it goes into a 350 degrees Fahrenheit preheated oven. Re-bake the bread in one-minute intervals, continuously checking the core temperature of the bread until it hits 170 degrees Fahrenheit (use a temperature probe like this ThermoPro TP19H digital thermometer). Give the hot loaf a gentle press if you don’t believe us — the crackling sound it gives is nothing short of satisfying. All that’s left to think about is what exactly you’re going to do with the bread. Consider turning it into a fancy croque monsieur or Vietnamese banh mi — both are perfect ways to enjoy your batch of fresh-again bread.
How long does frozen bread last?
If you’re wondering just how long you can keep your bread this way, Myhrvold and his team also have the answer. “Our tests showed that even after a few weeks, frozen bread that was thawed and refreshed was as good as new,” he explained. However, when he left the bread past the six-week mark, he noticed: “The crust had shrunk slightly, and the crumb had turned noticeably whiter”.
So if you wish to enjoy your bread at its peak, it’s best to use it within six weeks from the date you first put it into the freezer (this is why labeling the bread’s packaging before you freeze it is so helpful!). If you’re planning for longer storage, Myhrvold found the outer limit too. “After 6 months in the freezer, the whitening was even more pronounced, and the crust had become extremely brittle,” he explained. The good news? Your bread should remain perfectly edible even after six months of freezing. While it won’t taste day-one fresh after thawing at that point, it’s still completely usable.
Sure, it might taste like a fresh loaf of special artisanal bread anymore, but Myhrvold gave several suggestions for using it: “You can still use it without the crust or for making bread pudding, croutons, or French toast.” So other than keeping your daily bread fresh for later use, bread is now a practical option for your long-term food supply as well!
