Keep Your Frozen Bread From Turning Stale With This Simple Hack

Bread is the essence of life and the go-to food group for any meal of the day. Breakfast? Bagels. Brunch/lunch? English muffins. Dinner? Pizza. It’s delicious, filling, and keeps you coming back for more, so it’s no surprise if you have several packages of bread stored in your freezer, just in case.

Unfortunately, when it comes to storing bread in the freezer, it often tastes stale and gross upon thawing it out. However, there is a simple hack that was made just for this kind of situation and bread-lovers everywhere can sleep well at night knowing their bread is A-OK.

Follow these directions via Pop Sugar to saving up your long-lasting frozen bread:

Step 1: Within 24 hours (maximum) of cutting into a loaf, slice up the remaining bread. (Don’t wait until it’s already turned the corner; at that point, your best bet is giving leftovers a second life as croutons, breadcrumbs, or bread pudding.) Don’t just stick the bread in the freezer unsliced. Unless your kitchen is equipped with a buzz saw, there’s no chance you’re going to be able to slice it without thawing the entire loaf first (trust us, we’ve tried).

Step 2: Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or wax paper, arrange the slices in one layer on top of that, and put it in the freezer, uncovered, until frozen solid. (The parchment will prevent the gorgeous, moist crumb of the bread from sticking to the pan, and the single layer will prevent the slices from freezing stuck to each other.)

Step 3: Once the bread slices are frozen, transfer them to a resealable freezer bag, removing as much air from the bag as possible.

Step 4: When a bread craving hits, take out just as many slices of bread as you’ll eat then, and either let them thaw at room temperature, or put them directly in the toaster (they’ll take about one extra minute to toast). The texture of the bread will be about 95 percent as good as fresh bread and far better than second-day, already-starting-to-go-stale bread. Stored frozen (in a resealable freezer bag), sliced bread will stay fresh and delicious for at least six months, if not longer.

Thankfully, for those of you who are loyal bread-storers and use their freezer in those situations, the average freezer life for most loaves of bread ranges from 6 months to a year in some cases (depending on the type of bread). It’s important to remember the shelf life of certain loaves of bread, so you’re aware of when is best to drop that sucker in the freezer! The chart pictured below will definitely help you out when the time comes to rehouse your bread.

Be sure to SHARE this article to spread the news about this awesome way to keep your frozen bread from growing stale. Check out the video below on why you should refrain from storing bread in your refrigerator!