Works for Me Wednesday – How to Freeze Bread
Are you familiar with the blog We Are That Family? Kristen is inspiring, challenging, funny, and she has the best stories. Every Wednesday she hosts Works For Me Wednesday on her blog. Different blogs link up various tips and tricks, or really anything that works for them. I’ve learned quite a few things from checking out the links (including the best way to paint my toenails!) and I’m hoping to include a Works for Me tip semi-regularly on my blog. No promises as to there being one every week. Let’s be honest, I really just don’t have that many helpful ideas. But I do have a few things I’d like to share that just don’t belong in a recipe post. Plus joining in on other blogs is fun! It’s all about community, you know? 🙂 And hopefully you find these tips helpful as well.
So, after that long introduction, here is my first tip: How to freeze bread. It seems simple – who needs a tutorial on freezing bread? But this has been a work in progress for me. I bake a lot of bread that ends up getting used a slice or two at a time. Stale and/or freezer-burned bread is not tolerated in our household. What follows is the best way I know how to freeze bread to get great results each time you pull a few slices from the freezer.
1. We always freeze bread the same day it’s made. Homemade bread gets stale pretty quickly, and we prefer to eat it as fresh as possible.
2. After slicing the bread I lay the slices flat on a cookie sheet, and freeze for a few hours, or until they won’t stick together. Then I just toss them all in a bag to put in the freezer. One of the most annoying things about freezing bread is when you just need one or two slices, but when you try to get them out, the whole loaf is stuck together. This is a great way to avoid that.
3. We always double bag our bread! This is one of the simplest ways I’ve found to avoid freezer burn (one of Mike’s least favorite things).
So that’s it! Good luck, happy bread baking, and happy freezing!
Some simple bread recipes you might want to try:
French Bread
English Muffin Toasting Bread
Hearth Bread
Welcome! I'm Megan and it's my hope that here you'll find food that has been made with love and recipes that are shared with joy. Thanks for stopping by! 
I definitely need to do this. Thanks for the tips!
Megan, thanks so much for the tips! It seems so simple when you write it out and yet I would have never thought to freeze separate slices like that. I'll be putting your advice to good use! Hope you're doing well!
Great tip Megan. I hate when all the pieces stick together, lol. I learned something new today. :o)
Great tip -thanks!
Super tips–freezing bread can always come in handy if you do it the right way like you do!
Great tips! I'm working at getting away from buying bread and wasn't sure how to store it for a whole week. I can't wait to try it this weekend 🙂
Thanks for the great tips on freezing bread–this is really useful for me! My husband bakes about 2 loaves a week, and we've actually never double-bagged it before when we freeze, but I'm definitely trying this tip next week!
Megan! Thanks for your comment on my bread tip! Great minds 🙂 I definitely double bag if I have to freeze bread–good tip. My husband really doesn't like a loaf that's been frozen, so I've finally found this great recipe.
I have found that a loaf lasts 3-5 days before we finish it and it is still fresh and moist on day 5. The tips I offered in my post are what helps the loaf stay fresh (not slicing in advance but as you go, and keeping it in bread bag). My bread success is either b/c of those things or the recipe. I've tried many many recipes and this one works amazingly well! It's moist and hearty, yet light and fluffy. And the recipe doesn't even call for milk or dry milk–just water.
http://adorkablerecipes.blogspot.com/2010/10/homemade-whole-wheat-bread.html
Megan! Thanks for your comment on my bread tip! Great minds 🙂 I definitely double bag if I have to freeze bread–good tip. My husband really doesn't like a loaf that's been frozen, so I've finally found this great recipe.
I have found that a loaf lasts 3-5 days before we finish it and it is still fresh and moist on day 5. The tips I offered in my post are what helps the loaf stay fresh (not slicing in advance but as you go, and keeping it in bread bag). My bread success is either b/c of those things or the recipe. I've tried many many recipes and this one works amazingly well! It's moist and hearty, yet light and fluffy. And the recipe doesn't even call for milk or dry milk–just water.
http://adorkablerecipes.blogspot.com/2010/10/homemade-whole-wheat-bread.html
Awesome tips. Thanks so much for sharing.
This is something else that I want to learn to do on a regular basis!! (The other is learn to sew).
Great tip Megan. Now I'm going to have to bake more bread. I never really knew how to freeze it properly.
Great tip Megan. Now I'm going to have to bake more bread. I never really knew how to freeze it properly.
Thanks for these very helpful tips. When bread does not freeze right it tastes nasty-now we know how to get it right!
My husband always freezes our bread too. I thought he was crazy at first, but it really does help it last and still tastes good.
Great tip!! Glad to see someone else doing WFMW… So fun!
great tip–we freeze bread all the time but i always fail to slice it beforehand. must do that from now on 🙂
Megan, since my husband and I are empty nesters, these are great ideas. Thanks.
I always double bag, but have never done the flash freezing. Will do.
To avoid frozen slices of bread stuck together I use pieces of baking sheet to separate them. The pieces don’t need to cover the entire slice but probably at least something like 50% of it. I re-used the pieces each time I freeze a new loaf of bread.
A different method I used once, but don’t anymore, is to place each slice in an offset from the other, so the overlap between slices is not 100% but more like 70%, I suppose. If the bread is strong enough and doesn’t break, it provides an easy way to grab a slice in order to separate it from its neighboring slice while making the part of it that is stuck smaller.