Freezing Bread?

jenk_3

I went to my local tesco around 3pm on Sunday and they had reduced the baggets (SP?) to 5p each. I brought just the one and made a wonderful lunch to take to work the next day with it.

Can anyone tell me, would these freeze ok or would they be really dry once defrosted as i was thinking of going again this weekend and getting enough for the week

Thanks

Emma

thriftlady_2

Baguettes don't freeze well in my experience.They get very dry and shatter into a million bits once defrosted.You could try cubing them,freezing and using later for croutons-just fry from frozen

calleyw

Is that the ones that are half a french loaf size.

I have frozen them uncut. And they have been fine. Mind you they where only in the freezer for about a week.

I think if you pop them in the oven after defrosting they are suppose to crisp up.


Yours


Calley

pol

It depends what you want to use them for. If you cut them in half and then freeze, they are great for soup, give them five minutes in the oven from frozen and leave them five mins after you turn the oven off.

If you want them for sandwiches, they are not so good. As thriftlady says they become very fragile. But what a great idea, to use them as croutons!

pol

monkmorency

I agree - they probably won't be great for sandwiches after freezing. You could make french bread pizzas with them though

freda

You could also use them to make garlic bread (defrost, cut slits and fill with garlic+butter+herb mix, heat in oven.

You could make them into breadcrumbs and freeze for future use (add to cheese for toppings on pasta dishes, coat chicken in egg then breadcrumbs and bake, toast and add to sugar for a nice topping on cooked fruit)

As said before, make croutons?

Bread pudding, bread and butter pudding are lovely.

Toast and top with tom sauce, bit of meat/other topping and cheese - quick mini pizzas.

Toast and top with grated cheese mixed with butter, tiny bit of milk and worcestershire sauce for mini welsh rarebits.

I'm hungry now!

jenk_3

Oh does anyone have a bread and butter pub recipe?

comping_cat

Here is a thread with stale bread recipes http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=64454#post64454
Catherine x

squeaky

From the Cooking section of the MEGA Index sticky listed under "sweets" :-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=742159#post742159


and from elswhere in the same section:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=64454#post64454

Swan_2

I've had varying experiences freezing baguettes & other crusty breads. some have been fine, some have dried up & some have suffered from the shattering syndrome thriftlady mentions

one thing I found worked well with the ones that were ok was to spray them with water before refreshing in the oven, this seems to help them regain their crispy crust & soft centre. it also works well with bought bread & rolls you've had to keep a little longer than you might like before eating

the downside is that it's not very money-saving to put your oven on just to defrost/freshen up some bread


EDIT ... the totally dried up ones & the 'shattering' ones wont be saved by this method!

frosty

I have frozen french bread without any problems ,I wet it under the tap first then put it in the oven for a while ,the water stops it drying out to fast, they make great pizza.