Can You Freeze Bread? How Long Does It Last In The Freezer?

If finishing a loaf of bread takes you a long time, it probably goes stale or even moldy quite often. Fortunately, you can freeze bread to prevent that from happening.

All it takes is a few minutes of work and something to wrap the bread, like a freezer bag, plastic wrap, or freezer paper.

Interested in freezing your leftover bread? If so, read on.

Can You Freeze Bread? Pros & Cons

Before we get to the freezing method, let’s briefly touch upon the pros and cons.

There are tons of pros, such as:

• your bread doesn’t go stale (here’s how long bread lasts in the fridge) and you don’t have to worry that you’ll find it moldy the next morning
• you can buy a couple of loaves at a time, and leave one on the counter and freeze the rest (I do that all the time because I only visit my favorite bakery once a week)
• having some extra bread in the freezer means you don’t have to worry you’ll run out of bread or have to rush to the bakery first thing in the morning

When it comes to cons, some people complain about its freshness, but everyone who freezes bread regularly (that I know of) never complains about its quality.

If you feel like freezing bread is something worth giving a try, the next section is just what you’re looking for.

How Long Does Bread Last In The Freezer?

Single-wrapped bread retains quality in the freezer for up to a month. For a longer storage period, like a couple of months, you need to double wrap it.

Bread easily keeps for 3 months in the freezer, possibly much more if it’s a quality loaf that you wrapped well. The same is true for similar baked goods, such as hamburger buns (here’s how to freeze hamburger buns).

Please remember that bread will never spoil in the freezer, but after like half a year, its quality might be noticeably worse than when you first froze it.

How To Thaw and Reheat Bread

When it comes to thawing, here are the options that I recommend:

• Thaw and reheat the slices using a toaster. It’s simple and takes only a couple of minutes, plus you don’t have to do anything ahead of time. The bread will need a bit longer to defrost and warm up, and you might need to set your toaster on a higher setting, but that’s about it.
• Thaw the slices on the counter. This requires taking the slices out of the freezer about 20 to 30 minutes before you need them. Thaw them spread out and leaning against each other like you were building a house of cards. This way, the area exposed to warm air is highest, and slices defrost the fastest.

Truth be told, if you’re into bread toasts, the first option is all you need. I always go with this method and am super happy about how the bread turns out. You can also use a toaster to reheat frozen baguette slices or zucchini bread slices (if you like them warm).

Related: Can you freeze a baguette?
Related: Can you freeze zucchini bread?

Finally, if you’ve frozen the entire loaf, thaw it overnight on the counter.