I’m doing a lot of freezer stockup lately, and would like advice on freezing bread (standard grocery store sandwich-type) in a frost-free freezer to prevent drying out and similar problems.
only buy a few loaves at a time, bread is seriously easy to freezer burn.
vacuum seal your bread in half loaf bags, you may want to freeze the bread before you hit the vacuum though as you dont want to crush the bread in the sealer
No problemo - I do it all the time. You can even take bread right out of the freezer and pop it right into the toaster. Though it might take a tiny bit longer, it doesn’t take as long as you might think.
This sounds like overkill to me. I’ve stored non-vacuum sealed bread in the freezer for months with no apparent ill effects. In fact, I think I remember reading somebody around here recommending NOT to vacuum seal it, as it can lead to worse results than just leaving it alone. But I’ve never tried it, so can’t confirm.
I just throw it in the freezer in whatever package it comes in. Take it out when there’s only a slice or two left in the last loaf and there you go. We’ve never had a problem with it being dry or anything.
When we were kids my mom used to make our sandwiches on frozen bread so that by lunch time they were still cold. 
I just froze a whole homemade loaf unsliced. I plan on leaving it in there for about a month. I’ve routinely frozen bread of all types over the years with no ill effects. I’m interested in seeing how this loaf does.
How long do you want to keep it?
I’m a baker and we freeze some of our specialty breads. But we don’t keep them for a long time. The key is to let it cool completely before freezing. We don’t use vacuum bags, just plastic wrap.
I use at least two layers, three is even better.
That’s exactly what I do; put the bag in another bag, pop a slice or two in the toaster as needed. That’s what the ‘Frozen’ button on the toaster is for; once down for fresh, push it down a second time for toast.
I vacuum seal English muffins, since we buy several when they’re on sale. A loaf of bread will be just fine without the sealing for a couple of weeks, but make sure you don’t have something stinky like peppers in your freezer unless you like that smell in your bread, also.
Oh, and a tip for vacuum sealing muffins: freeze them first in the store package, then vacuum seal. Otherwise, you’ll get super-compressed muffins that are a bitch to split when they thaw.
I’ve heard that freezing the extra loaf is way better than keeping the current loaf in the fridge. Beyond that, I’ve never had a problem keeping an extra loaf or two in the freezer for a couple weeks. Never had it go on such a sale that I felt compelled to stock up that much.
Most bread I just throw in whole loaf and take out whole loaf. My daughter’s gluten free bread, though, is always used only a slice or two at a time, and so I want the rest of it to stay frozen. Problem is, the slices tend to stick together when frozen. So I take them out of the bag when we get home from the store and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Freeze 'em for an hour or so, and then gather the slices and put 'em back in the bag and keep it in the freezer that way. “Flash freezing” the slices makes them not stick together.
Regular white bread will keep fine in the freezer for a few weeks. If there are lots of ice crystals inside the bag when you take it out of the freezer, place the unopened bag on the counter with the iciest side up and let it thaw overnight before using it.
My mom used to buy several loaves at a time from the used bread store* and freeze them, so I grew up eating thawed bread. Never hurt me a bit. I think heartier breads hold up even better to freezing than the white sandwich bread we ate.
- The bakery thrift store where they sold day-old stuff.
I’ve done it for years. I live alone and like to use different breads for different things, so I have a few options in the freezer. I just stick each whole pack in a large ziplock freezer bag and defrost slices as required. After several months some breads only defrost to a state suitable for toasting (kinda like 2 or 3 day old bread) but mostly it comes out like fresh.
I just throw the loaf in the freezer being careful not to squish anything against or on top of it. I’ve left them in there up to a month - they freeze just fine.
Mom always would buy several loafs and freeze a few. I never noticed a difference.