9.18.2009

Are you a bread freezer?

Confessions from the Little Kitchen:  Anytime I went over to someone's house growing up and found bread in the freezer, I thought they were a little bizarre.   Call me crazy, but it really weirded me out.  Until now, I have thought that was kind of a pack rat thing to do and the only thing freezing bread was good for was to save it to feed the birds at the park.  And I would probably think I was absolutely crazy and never admit this to anyone, but I found out Mr. Hungry felt the same way. Ha!
However, I have totally changed my mind. Thanks to my sister-in-law (ya know, the one I call the "magical chef") I not only think it is not weird, but I consider it another essential for cutting costs in the kitchen and not wasting food when you only cook for one or two. 
This revelation all came about when my very pregnant sister in law was telling me she was craving grilled cheeses and how that was oh so convenient because she always had bread and cheese on hand.  I was lamenting to her how (although not pregnant) I often crave fresh grilled cheese, but we just rarely have a fresh loaf of bread sitting around.  I mean, some loafs can be up to $5 or $6 a loaf and if you don't eat a sandwich everyday, it usually is a huge waste.  When I was explaining this to her, she told me how she keeps bread in the freezer!  I thought hmmm... okay, I love absolutely everything she does in the kitchen so maybe there is something to this bread in the freezer.  She says she does it with every kind of bread and will sometimes keep a loaf up to a month or two.  This was enough convincing for me to experiment!
So I picked up my favorite bread, Orowheat's Health Nut, and threw it in the freezer since we were on our way out of town.  I tested the frozen bread three ways that I would use a loaf of fresh bread to see if this was really such a good idea.

First, I turned it into bread crumbs for a chicken dish I was making.  Absolutely no difference here! This was my first experiment taking it out of the fridge and it literally was almost room temperature in less than ten minutes.  Passed the test!
Second, the most important test... the grilled cheese.  I took the bread out of the freezer and put it in the toaster for about a minute and then continued with my usual method of making the grilled cheese in a nonstick skillet.  I could not tell the difference at all! Passed the most important test!
Lastly, I tried it for breakfast with some jelly.  Simply took straight out of the freezer and put in the toaster.  Again, no difference!
So I am officially a bread freezer. The only way I did not test it was to let it thaw and eat like regular fresh bread.  We just don't really eat bread like that at our house (always better toasted!), but if this is a staple in your house, let me know if the frozen bread works.

So what about you? Do you freeze bread?  Do you think it is weird? Are you willing to try it?

9 comments:

  1. This is hysterical because I felt the same way. I have always felt that was an odd thing to do, but I like your experiment. I will have to try this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Must admit I have always been a bread freezer so it is nice to see you have found out how great it is!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Funny... never heard of putting bread in the freezer. I will try this though because I hate buying a whole loaf when I just need bread crumbs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've always thought it was weird that my grandpa makes his own bread and then freezes it. However, it does make sense. We buy bread a lot but it tends to go bad. I'm glad to know that there is a way to not waste yummy bread and it's still yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. hmm never thought about freezing bread. will have to try! thanks for the post!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am a bread freezer! For the most part if I thaw the bread out the night before I plan to use it, it is fine and not dry when it is time to eat it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I always thought it was weird too, but I'm sick of wasting bread... will try!

    ReplyDelete
  8. im a bread freezer! works like a charm!

    ReplyDelete
  9. http://watchufc200live.xyz/
    http://watchufc200live.com/
    http://ufc200live.online/

    ReplyDelete