Bread is one of them we waste most in Norway.
Whether you are baking yourself, buying bread in the store or using the leftover app “Too good to go”, it is wise to freeze what you do not get eaten.
– Mark the freezer bag with what it is and the date. Bread stays in the freezer for six to seven months, says Torunn Nordbø, general manager of the Bread and Grain Information Office.
Need rest before freezing
Home baking needs to get the right temperature before it can freeze.
– Leave the bread on the rack with a towel over until the core of the bread is just under 30 degrees. Put it in a bread bag and freeze it, says Fredrik Andersen, baker at the Food Research Institute Nofima.
You may want to half fry the bread if it is to be frozen and fry it when the bread is thawed and to be eaten.
How long the bread needs to be cooked depends on how coarse the bread is, but a rule of thumb is about 75 – 80 percent of the cooking time.
– You have to roast the rye, the little dough under the bread. If you don’t make a hollow sound when you knock on the bottom of the bread with the knuckle, you haven’t cooked the bread long enough, he explains.
You need to get the doughy part of the bread well cooked before you freeze it if you are going to get a good bread when you fry it again after thawing.
– If you freeze a half-baked bread with raw duck, you won’t get it away again, he warns.
Avoid cracks when thawing
After removing the bread from the freezer, it should thaw at room temperature. If you thaw the bread too fast it will crack.
– Bread thaws from the outside inwards. If it thaws too fast in high heat, it will thaw extremely and frozen in the middle. Then the crust and the inside of the food will fall apart, so the cracks will come, the baker explains.
– If you have a defrost function on your micro, you can thaw bread in it, says Torunn Nordbø.
If the bread has a very thick crust, it can help to cut off the peel before freezing the bread.
– Then it’s easier to cut it up when it’s thawed. But don’t throw the scallops then, they are often the best on bread, she points out.
To avoid wastage, calculate what goes with the bread in your home and freeze it accordingly. If you have lots to freeze, it may be worthwhile to freeze both whole bread and slices.
Photo: Karina Kaupang Jørgensen / NRK
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A large family can often freeze whole bread. If you live alone and only eat a few slices a week, it is good to cut up the bread before you freeze it.
– Then you can remove as many slices as you need in the morning. They thaw quickly and make the packed lunch more fresh. If you have a bad time, you can thaw them faster in the toaster, she urges.
Rolls are tempered, frozen and thawed in the same way as bread.
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