My microwave is out of commission, and every attempt so far to defrost bread I keep in the freezer (otherwise it goes stale before I can use it) results in the bread either being frozen or rock-hard stale. What do you suggest?
My thought was to steam it over boiling water, but how long in advance do I take it out of the freezer, and do I let it sit in the refrigerator or at room temperature?
We keep our bread in the freezer and there’s never been a problem with just taking out however many slices(separate them) and let them thaw on the counter.
Or use the toaster. Ours has a defrost setting.
How long do you leave the bread out?
Toaster, eh? The problem is, some of my “bread” is sourdough rolls, which are a little too thick for my toaster.
10-15 minutes, maybe. Never paid much attention. I tend to take out the bread ahead of time.
I don’t have a microwave or toaster, so I’ve had to search around online for oven alternatives for reheating a variety of food. Frozen bread seems to do best at in a 325 oven, 5 minutes or so for a slice, 20-30 minutes for a loaf. I don’t know about rolls; I’d start checking after 10 minutes I think.
Your best bet is to take the bread out far enough in advance that it thaws naturally (yes, I’m really good at stating the obvious - it’s just a talent I have), but I might try wrapping a loaf very tightly in foil (so it doesn’t dry out) and putting it into a 350F oven as an alternative.
One thing I have done in the past is to “pretreat” the bread I freeze by cutting it into the slices/chunks I will want and putting wax or parchment paper in between the pieces, then wrapping the whole thing for freezer storage. Although I suppose bread purists would turn their noses up at slicing bread before freezing it, for day-to-day bread consumption I’m not that picky. You can grab the amount need from the freezer and letting it sit out for 10-15 minutes will probably be enough if it’s already in individual slices.
I’ve never had luck with bread that’s been frozen. Every slice ends up soggy on one half and dry and stale on the other. And that’s if you keep it sealed in the bag until it’s thawed. If you open it the whole thing dries out as it thaws. If you’re not going to eat it right away, it’s cheaper just to throw it in the trash on the way to the car after you buy it.
Microwave is a pretty bad way to thaw bread. Bread is subject to all sorts of problems, and rapid staling is one. Microwaves don’t produce even heating and all sorts of things go wrong.
The best way I have ever come across to thaw frozen bread is to put it in a bag and put it in the sun. The resultant bread is warm, moist and soft, and remarkably close to fresh baked in texture and flavour. I’m not going to suggest why it is, but it works for me.
We do the exact same thing.
We’d use the microwave if it’s kinda urgent and when it’s not we put them in a plastic bag on the counter/table/shelf so they don’t dry out.
Tried-and-tested method: break a slice or two off the bread (or take the bread roll out of the bag) and seal inside a Ziplock bag and leave it on the counter. After about 5-10 minutes it’ll be as if it had never been frozen.
Another one is to make a sandwich using the frozen bread then bag it up. Keeps the filling cool for hours and when it comes to lunchtime it’ll be ready to eat.
I’ve never microwaved frozen bread. Sounds soggy.
I’ve never had a problem with frozen bread thawing out to become either soggy or stale, whether it was commercially made bread or bread made from scratch.
Same here. I grew up with my mom keeping one loaf of white bread on the kitchen counter and another loaf or two in the freezer. If were down to a few slices in the kitchen-counter bag of bread, we’d set a frozen loaf (in the bag) on the counter. Typically overnight, but sometimes at just any random time. Seemed to thaw out quick enough … certainly within a few hours.
I never noticed any huge difference in consistency or taste between straight-from-the-grocery white bread and frozen-then-thawed white bread. We were never a home-baked bread household, so I never had a point of comparison growing up - “bread” meant “Wonder Bread (or local brand equivalents)”.
BTW: around here, grocery-store white bread can remain on the counter, with frequent bag openings/closings, for at least two weeks. Really longer than that – I’d be disappointed to see mold in even a three-week old loaf.
And our SE Louisiana climate is super-humid and very much a mold paradise. No telling how long bagged white bread lasts in, say, Arizona.
Yeah, I’ve started buying bread again and the “commercial bakery” stuff lasts an absurdly long time, even here in Ohio. It’s not exactly the best tasting shit by the third week but it’s still not moldy. Perfect for toast or grilled cheese that’s for sure.
When I was a kid, my mom kept bread in the freezer. She still does, at her house. I’ve had one too many freezer burned or half-thawed sandwiches to ever want to freeze my bread again. I got myself a bread box, and I buy the commercial loaves, and if I do let it go bad before it’s done, I just toss it.
In regards to bakery quality bread, I just buy smaller loaves or fewer buns.
ETA: Microwaving frozen bread does not make it soggy whatsoever. It just makes it warm.
Same here. In fact, I just did it yesterday. I wanted to make a sandwich using a bun. I took one bun out of the freezer (it was frozen in its original bag), set it on the counter for maybe 20 minutes and it was soft and delicious - just like I just brought it home from the store. I do the same with slices of bread all the time. I would avoid the microwave thawing methods at all costs! A second or 2 too long and it will be awful.
I do it by putting however many slices in a plastic bag. That stops it drying out. You can then thaw it either on the counter top or in the microwave.
That. It doesn’t take very long at all.
We always keep our bread in the freezer too, because we like a variety and don’t want to eat all of one loaf before starting on the next. Our current toaster has a “frozen” setting, but before that we would just put the slices in and stop the toasting process after a few (15?, 30?) seconds and let it sit in the warm toaster for another minute or so. I sometimes thaw rolls by sitting one on the top of the toaster and turning it over a few times. The regular oven is better for this, but I don’t mind a toasty crust on my rolls.
I always find that microwaved bread gets kind of rubbery. And not the good, chewy french baguette kind of rubbery.