My suggestion would be to freeze half a loaf and pull it out when needed. Bread thaws quite well and it doesn’t get stale that way.
I haven’t had a problem with the last pieces being stale. Either that or I’m just not very picky about how stale bread is.
You’re not very picky.
Refrigerating bread makes the yeast crystals break down and go stale faster. Heat can fix this, but only once or twice. This is why toasting stale bread brings it back a bit.
Freezing bread is the correct way, as it stops the yeast crystals in their tracks, rather than breaking them down. Reheating frozen bread gives you almosy fresh bread.
Think about how bread is stored before you buy it. Unless it’s only partially cooked, it’s not refrigerated.
Exactly what I do. I can actually buy a bunch of bread now because most of it stays frozen and there’s only half a loaf on the counter at a time. It’s kind of miraculous how well it dethaws.
This is going to sound like a real stupid question.
When you unfreeze it, does it get sad looking and taste funny?
Or am I doing something wrong?
My mom froze bread when I was growing up and it always made it soggy and crumbly. I don’t know how all these people are so happy with it. When I got out on my own I found never frozen is much better. Just buy half loaves if you’re worried it’s going to go bad.
Straight into the toaster from the freezer. If you want bread, set the toaster light. If you want toast, set it dark.
Some toasters even have a switch for frozen bread to compensate.
Here in rural Canada we have always frozen bread even short term. Mostly because mice can’t get into the freezer.
It’s weird how common this claim is. Growing up, my Mom always frozen bread to keep it longer, but it always tasted bad and was the wrong texture
Are you a medieval peasant? Most folks in the US buy our bread premade, some are even lucky bastards and live by a bakery.