<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
I found something that was written by a food expert that may be useful to
people looking for the best way to store bread in the freezer.  It applies
to regular gluten-containing bread, but sounds like the principle is the
same.
 
The reference is "On Food and Cooking:  The Science and Lore of the
Kitchen," by Harold McGee.  Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., New
York.  680 pp.  $17.
 
Starch and Staling
 
    ... The landmark study of bread staling came as early as 1852, when the
Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, a pioneer in the study of nitrogen
fixation ... showed that bread could be hermetically sealed to prevent it
from losing water, and yet still go stale.  He further established that
staling could be reversed by reheating the bread to 140 degrees F (60
degrees C): the temperature, we now know, at which starch gelatinizes.
Subsequent research has shown that the starch phase is indeed the culprit,
though gluten is involved in a minor way....
 
     Staling is not, then, simply desiccation but a change in the location
and distribution of water molecules.  Where does the water go?  Eventually,
it goes to the crust....
 
      A last important point about staling:  it is a temperature-dependent
process.  It proceeds most rapidly at temperatures just above freezing, and
very slowly below freezing.  In one experiment, bread stored at 46 degrees
F (7 degrees C), a fairly typical refrigerator temperature, staled as much
in one day as bread held at 86 degrees F (30 degrees C) did in six. The
lesson is obvious.  If you are going to freeze bread, freeze it as quickly
as possible, so as to minimize the time it spends close to 32 degrees F (0
degrees C).  If you are not going to freeze bread, store it wrapped tightly
at room temperature.  Some bakeries are now printing on their plastic bags
the instructions "Store at room temperature or freeze."  This is better
advice than the still common "Store at room temperature or refrigerate."
 
 
Ellen McCrady
7105 Geneva Dr.
Austin, TX 78723
512-929-3992
fax: 929-3995
[log in to unmask]