Everyone eats bread, right? A lot of people are quite familiar with freezing of bread so that it can last long in storage and to conveniently use when ready to use to whip a sandwich or make toast. Bread is classified as one of the foods that can easily be frozen, however, after thawing, can it be refrozen?
It is safe to refreeze bread but refrozen bread may have a stale taste. The best thing to do is to refreeze bread within 48 hours after you have used it. What we want to show you in this article is to guide you on how to best refreeze your bread, bread of any type ranging from sourdough, whole wheat, gluten-free bread, to hard-crusted bread.
Types of Bread
Check below for some types of popular bread that can be refrozen before use. You will get to know the differences and similarities between them and see why some factors affect them after you have refrozen and re-thawed. Your type of bread will determine how well the bread will do in your freezer. You have to consider whether or not your bread has the ingredients below when you want to refreeze them:
- Yeast
- Leavening agent
- Gluten
- Eggs
The ingredients listed above tend to change the bread’s texture and they also determine whether or not it will have a stale taste after thawing.
Your Guide to Refreezing Bread
You must take into consideration some factors when you want to refreeze your bread and this depends on how it was originally produced, it could also have been frozen whole or sliced. Check out what you should do to freeze your bread:
- Freezer bag or an airtight container
Store-bought bread: The entire bread with the package can be frozen by using a double-sealed freezer bag of high quality.
A fresh loaf of bread is better transferred into a freezer bag or your airtight container.
Put a date on the label when you originally froze the bread. It is best to eat frozen bread within a month that you originally froze it. You must know the initial freezing date and also adhere strictly to the same timeframe even if you refreeze. Most of the store-bought types of bread have the best-by date on the attached clip. If this bread is placed in your freezer before it gets to the bread’s best-by date, it can be kept frozen for up to six months more than the date listed.
Refreezing Bread – The Ultimate Guide
We have two generally accepted rules when refreezing your bread or any food.
- Only refreeze the bread once: The bread will lose its flavor and integrity if you refreeze it multiple times and it will become flavorless or stale. This is for all food.
- Refreeze the bread within 48 hours after thawing: The bread could go stale if you leave it out longer than the stipulated time. Bread could easily get stale if left without cover overnight.
Ensure that your bread is cooled completely before you refreeze it if it has been heated. This is to prevent freezer burn because the flavor and texture of the bread will be ruined if warm bread is placed in the freezer thanks to freezing of the condensation to form ice crystal in the bread. Consider the thongs below before you refreeze your bread:
- It must be at room temperature ahead of freezing.
- Ensure you are aware of the date you originally froze the bread.
- Ensure that there are no visible molds seen on your bread before you refreeze it.
Can You Refreeze Slices of Bread and a Whole Loaf of Bread?
Your strategy of refreezing will be largely determined by whether you want to refreeze a whole loaf or slices. There are pros and cons associated with it, check below:
Refreezing Whole Loaves
Bread made at home or bought in the bakery are likely not to be cut into slices before refreezing, so you can store it as an entire loaf.
- Pros: You can store it longer inside your freezer than the sliced bread because it is encased naturally by the exterior. (The hard-crusted bread will not freeze well)
- Cons: You must rethaw a whole loaf before you can eat it and you will have to eat everything because foods cannot be refrozen more than once.
Refreezing Sliced Bread
Store-bought bread is very convenient not only because of its best-by date or its packaging but because it is packed pre-sliced for use.
- Pros: You can rethaw slices individually as you need and it thaws very fast
- Cons: Since more of the interior of the bread is exposed, it is prone to freezer burn.
Can You Refreeze Bread With Seeds?
Seeded and multi-grain bread are types of bread that are made using different seeds and grains. These types of bread are chewier and more complex in texture than the other types of bread. It is considered as hearty bread perfect for dipping in more robust stews and soups. The seeds do not affect the bread as it freezes, most seeds freeze well inside the freezer. You have to take important consideration to bread that contains seeds to refreeze within 48 hours because seeds have the potential to become rancid due to the natural oils in them.
Can You Refreeze Store-bought and Homemade Bread?
You can throw your store-bought bread directly into your freezer thanks to the package that comes with it. It also has its best-by date to know when you need to eat it. Store-bought bread can stay inside your freezer for up to six months after the best-by date. We, however, recommend that you eat it within one to three months to get the optimum freshness and flavor.
It is a bit more delicate to freeze homemade bread because it does not have the preservatives that help keep them fresh. You must wrap the bread either in butcher paper or aluminum foil and put inside a freezer bag or airtight container. Ensure the bread is completely cool before you wrap in foil or there will be a risk of freezer burn that will ultimately ruin the bread’s texture after you thaw it again.
Can You Refreeze White and Whole Wheat Bread?
Whole wheat bread and white bread are examples of classic sandwich bread that are primarily differentiated by white bread containing less fiber and having most of its nutrients removed. The white color of your white bread is gotten after the hull and bran has been removed from your wheat grain, this however makes no difference when you refreeze as both whole wheat bread and white bread are refrozen the same way and they both retain similar texture.
Rye bread, however, is classified denser and it also has a much stronger flavor than the whole wheat bread and white bread making refreezing and re-defrosting affect the flavor and texture more. Rye bread is the best refrozen by wrapping it in foil before you place it in your freezer bag or airtight container. You can keep rye bread in your freezer for about three months or it could stay longer if you store it properly.
Refreezing Bread Without Yeast or Eggs
Any bread leavened without eggs or yeast is a quick bread and it doesn’t need time to rise. You can assemble the dough quickly and bake it immediately. Check below for the types of quick bread:
- Soda bread: This is otherwise called Irish soda bread with its name gotten from the sodium bicarbonate used rather than yeast as the leavening agent.
- Cornbread: A native traditional American dish of quick bread containing cornmeal.
Quick bread is known to freeze well, this makes refreezing quite as simple. All you need to do is to ensure you allow the bread to completely cool if you heated it after you have thawed it and also put it in your freezer bag or airtight container.
Refreezing Bread That Contains Yeast
Consider sourdough as a classic type of bread that has yeast. Sourdough bread is different from other yeast bread because a special yeast is used to make sourdough. The yeast continues to grow as it is used. It is not recommended to refreeze your sourdough bread because it does not do well inside the freezer due to the ratio of crust-to-bread. The desired crunch and the texture needed in the sourdough will not be retained.
Refreezing Bread That Contains Gluten
As a result of the type of flour that is used, gluten-free bread is considered one of the best freezable bread types. The bread is usually much denser than those made with flour that has gluten. Gluten-free bread has been considered the easiest to refreeze. Normally, you only need to defrost the amount you want to eat at one sitting. However, if you thaw more than you can take, then you can refreeze it. All you have to do is to put the slices back into the original frozen package that came with it and put it back in your freezer. Eat the bread within one to three months after originally being frozen. It means that you have to eat the bread before the one month elapse even if you refreeze it. You can also eat the frozen bread after three months, but the bread will likely have a freezer burn with the quality and taste severely affected.
Refreezing Bread That Contains Eggs
You make egg bread with eggs as not all types of bread are made using egg. You must know this before you decide to refreeze the bread. Eggs help your bread to rise and to also tenderize the texture as well as reduce its crumbliness.
Your egg bread could be better when frozen than the bread without eggs because your egg helps the bread to retain its moisture after being thawed allowing it to have its original consistency without tasting stale as the bread made without eggs. Check below for the bread types made using eggs:
- Challah: This is a Jewish bread braided traditionally before being baked
- Brioche: This is a French bread considered as a pastry.
Related Questions
Can you refreeze butter?
If we talk about bread, then we should talk about butter, both are a classic combination. We have previously written a whole guide about whether butter can be refrozen, read it more.
Which bread refreezes best?
The gluten-free bread refreezes best. The bread is naturally dry and crumbly which makes it retain the freshness than the others. If you leave this bread on the counter, it becomes stale and inedible. Rye bread is the second bread that refreezes best because the bread is dense and you can easily refreeze and rethaw it without the texture changing.
