Can bread be refrozen? Statistics show that more than 240 million slices of bread are wasted annually in the US. Fortunately, there is an effective way of increasing the shelf life of your bread, allowing you to contribute less to food wastage.
Given the figures, many are now thinking of ways to preserve bread, and refreezing them is considered an option. It leads us to question, can bread be refrozen?
You can refreeze bread after thawing it. But freezing bread twice can make it stale and lose its taste. You need to refreeze bread within 24 hours after getting it out of the freezer.
Key Points To Consider
This article will discuss the following:
- Freezing bread twice
- How to properly refreeze bread
- Thawing refrozen bread
- The shelf life of refrozen bread
- How to tell if frozen bread has gone bad
This article will discuss everything you need to know about frozen and refrozen bread. If bread that easily stales is your problem, stay with us until the end of this article, and we’ll teach you how to increase your bread’s shelf life while keeping it fresh.
Can Bread Be Refrozen?
Do you ever freeze your bread to increase its lifespan? This storing method is ideal for preventing your bread from staling. Keeping your bread inside the fridge is also the best way to keep molds away from it.
But what if you reheated too much bread and you want to store it again? Can bread be refrozen?
Can You Freeze Bread Twice?
Refreezing bread is completely fine. However, it is worth noting that doing such will sacrifice the quality of your bread. While bread remains perfectly good after freezing it once, reheating and refreezing it can cause it to lose its quality. As a result, your bread will become stale and tasteless.
Moreover, the level of staleness that refrozen bread would have depends on its type. For instance, gluten-free bread does best in the freezer than bread varieties that use regular flour. On the other hand, sourdough bread has a thick crust, so refreezing it will turn it stale. Even if you thaw and reheat sourdough bread, you will get a different crust texture.
Bread varieties containing eggs also do well in the freezer as they help it retain moisture.
Make sure to refreeze your bread correctly if you want to avoid the freezer burning it.
How To Properly Freeze And Refreeze Bread
Freshly baked bread is delicious. However, leaving it on the counter for a few days can cause it to lose its freshness quickly. If you have homemade bread, mold easily contaminates it as it does not contain any preservatives. Fortunately, you can freeze bread to keep its shelf life longer.
Freezing bread is the best way to increase its shelf life. However, you cannot simply buy or make your bread and toss it inside the freezer. An improper freezing method can only do a little to keep your bread mold-free.
Moreover, freezing and refreezing bread involve the same process.
Wrap The Bread Tightly
If you are freezing homemade bread, it is essential to let it cool completely to prevent it from becoming moldy. Divide the loaf of bread into even slices once it cools completely. This way, you only have to thaw the number of bread slices you need instead of taking the entire loaf out of the freezer.
Place the sliced bread in a ziplock bag or cover it tightly with a cling wrap. Double wrap using aluminum foil to ensure the bread will remain fresh for an extended period.
If you are refreezing thawed slices of bread, simply let each slice cool and place it in a different ziplock bag and foil. Placing refrozen slices of bread in different packaging will allow you to identify which slices you need to consume first the next time you reheat your bread. It is also crucial to refreeze the bread within 24 hours to preserve the most freshness possible.
Date Your Bread’s Packaging
When freezing and refreezing bread, you should always remember to write a date on the packaging. This way, you will remember how long the bread has been stored. Frozen bread can last for three to six months. Storing your bread longer than six months will make it lose its quality.
Pop The Bread In The Freezer
After ensuring that your bread’s wrapping is airtight, you can place it inside your freezer. When you need a slice of bread or two, you can simply take it out hours before eating it and let it thaw at room temperature.
Only Refreeze Bread Once
No general rule tells how many times you can refreeze your bread. You can freeze, thaw, and refreeze bread as often as you want. However, refreezing bread more than once will cause it to lose its quality. The more you refreeze bread, the more moisture it loses, causing it to become stale and tasteless.
Refreezing bread multiple times will also affect its texture. As the bread loses its moisture, it becomes crumbly even when you reheat it.
How To Thaw Refrozen Bread
Thawing refrozen bread is the same as thawing bread after the first time you freeze it. While you may think thawing your frozen bread takes hours, there are softening methods that will have it ready in minutes. There are several ways to thaw frozen and refrozen bread:
Thawing Refrozen Bread In The Fridge
The best way to thaw frozen and refrozen bread is to take it out of the freezer and stick it in the fridge overnight. This way, the thawing process will happen slowly, allowing the bread to reabsorb moisture from the melting ice crystals without becoming soggy. If you need your bread for breakfast, simply place it in the fridge the night before, and it should be ready for reheating in the morning.
Thawing Bread At Room Temperature
Thawing bread on your kitchen counter is much faster than thawing it in the fridge. If you need warm slices of bread, take your frozen bread out of the freezer and leave it covered on your kitchen counter. Leave the bread to thaw for 1 to 3 hours, depending on how thick its slices are.
Thawing Bread In The Toaster
If you need your slices of bread ready within minutes, a toaster is one of the best thawing methods. Take as many pieces of bread as you need from the freezer and pop it in the toaster for a few minutes. You may need to crank the toaster’s temperature a bit higher to ensure that the bread thaws completely.
Thawing Bread In the Microwave
The fastest way to thaw frozen and refrozen bread is to pop it in the microwave for 30 to 90 seconds, depending on the thickness of your bread. After 30 seconds or so, the bread will become warm and moist.
However, the drawback of thawing bread in the microwave is that it melts the ice crystals too fast. As a result, the bread cannot absorb moisture properly, resulting in limp and soggy bread. Your bread may also come steaming hot after thawing it in the microwave.
That said, thaw your bread in the fridge overnight if you are not in a rush, so it can re-absorb the moisture from the melting ice crystals. If you need warm bread within minutes, use a toaster to thaw and reheat your bread.
How Long Will Refrozen Bread Last In The Freezer
It is common knowledge that homemade bread has a short lifespan. Fortunately, bread does well in the freezer, allowing you to have fresh bread anytime you need it. But while freezing bread will enable it to stay fresh for an extended period, it is worth noting that frozen bread also reaches the end of its lifespan.
According to the United States Department Of Agriculture (USDA), bread can stay fresh for three months when stored in the freezer and packed in an airtight plastic bag. On the other hand, keeping your bread inside the fridge allows it to retain its quality for up to two weeks. Bread products stored at room temperature have the shortest shelf life, as they can only stay fresh for 4-7 days, depending on the ingredients used.
If you cannot consume your bread within four days, pack it in an airtight plastic bag and aluminum foil and store it in the freezer to prevent it from staling.
Signs That Frozen Bread Has Gone Bad
Freezers can only increase the shelf life of bread but cannot prevent it from going bad after some time. The proper storing and freezing method allow your bread to last for months in the freezer. But no matter how well you store your bread in the freezer, at some point it’s no longer consumable and it’s time to introduce it to the bin.
The Bread No Longer Tastes Good
One of the best ways to tell whether or not bread is still suitable for consumption is to smell it. But when smelling your bread is not enough, you can have a small bite and let your tastebuds find out it is still good. If the bread has an undesirable flavor, do not hesitate to discard it.
Never try to mask the undesirable flavor of the bread by turning it into a sandwich.
The Bread Is Freezer Burnt
The reason why you need to double-pack your bread is to prevent freezer burns. But if your efforts are unsuccessful, freezer-burnt bread will lose its flavor and light texture, which renders it unconsumable.
There is nothing wrong with eating freezer-burnt bread. However, it will no longer be tasty and will not satisfy your desire for a good slice of bread.
There Is A Hole In Your Frozen Bread’s Packaging
If you take your bread out of the freezer and notice a hole or rip on its packaging, go ahead and throw it away. Chances are the hole caused ice crystals to enter the packaging, resulting in freezer-burnt bread. As mentioned, freezer burn changes the taste and texture of the bread, so it will no longer be suitable for consumption.
The Bread Is Rock Hard Even After Reheating It
Frozen and refrozen bread softens when you pop it inside the oven. But if you reheated your bread and it is still pretty hard, chances are it has already lost its moisture content or is past its prime. There is only one thing you can do to hard, stale bread: In the bin!
Summing Things Up
Can bread be refrozen? You can refreeze your bread as often as you want but keep in mind that it will lose its quality. Proper freezing and refreezing are also essential. You need to cover your bread tightly to prevent staling and freezer burn.
Refreezing bread will cause changes in its texture and quality, especially if you do not apply the proper freezing methods. It is ideal only to refreeze bread once to ensure that it retains most of its quality.
Do you have questions about freezing and refreezing bread? Our comments section is open if you do, so feel free to drop your thoughts there!
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