FREEZING YEAST BREADS: Hard Crusted Breads: Hard-crusted breads like French or Italian loaves should be wrapped loosely in freezer material to allow air to circulate around them. Thaw at room temperature while still in wrapper. Before serving, place hard-crusted breads in the oven at 400ºF for 4 to 5 minutes to bring back crispness. Store for up to 6 months at 0ºF.
Soft-Crusted Breads: Soft crusted breads like tortillas, pita bread or sliced yeast breads can be prepared and cooled as usual, wrapped in freezer material and frozen. They should last from 6 to 8 months in the freezer. At 0º. Freezing Bread Dough: Unless you're using a dough commercially designed for freezing or a recipe developed for freezing, it's usually better to bake bread and freeze it rather than to freeze bread dough. Commercial frozen bread dough should be stored at 0ºF and used by the date on the label. Vacuum packed refrigerated bread dough should not be frozen because it is packaged under pressure and will burst during freezing. Remove wrapping and thaw frozen dough at room temperature. Shape dough for baking and let it rise until it triples in size before baking. Thawing: In general, yeast breads and quick breads can be completely thawed at room temperature or partially thawed in a microwave oven (times will vary according to bread density and microwave oven). Bread partially thawed using a microwave should be allowed to finish thawing at room temperature to avoid drying out edges. If necessary, wrap bread in foil and place in a 400ºF over for 3-4 minutes to restore crisp texture before serving. Lr Smiles --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Access the Recipes And More list archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/recipesandmore%40googlegroups.com/ Visit the group home page at: http://groups.google.com/group/RecipesAndMore -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
