Proper Thawing

• If you have enough time before you need to serve the bread, the bread should be thawed slowly and then heated, just the opposite from the way it was frozen. When you put the bread in the freezer, it took a few hours to freeze solid. Reversing this process before heating the bread in the oven will ensure that your homemade bread is fresh.

  Take the bread out of the freezer and wrap a paper towel or clean dish towel around it and place it in an airtight plastic bag. Put it in the refrigerator for a few hours and then move it to the counter to thaw completely. Thawing the bread on the counter straight from the freezer will leave the bread soggy; putting it in the refrigerator for a few hours first will leave your bread in better condition.

  Heat the now-thawed bread in a preheated 350 degree oven after wrapping it entirely in foil. The bread should be fully heated and ready to serve in about ten minutes.

No Thawing

• If you do not have time to thaw out the bread, wrap the frozen bread tightly in foil and place it in a preheated 300 degree oven. The bread will need to bake for at least twenty minutes after it comes straight out of the freezer. When it has been baking for about ten minutes, take it out of the oven and wipe the bread with a clean damp cloth. This will add a touch of moisture to the bread so the crust will not be too hard. Once the full twenty minutes has passed, the bread is ready to be served.

Quick Fixes

• Heat the frozen homemade bread right from the freezer by putting it in a toaster oven in slices. The bread will toast on each side, leaving only the center soft and fresh. This method thaws and warms the bread in just a few minutes.

  Similarly, grill the frozen slices by lightly buttering each side and placing them in a preheated frying pan or flat grill. You will need to flip the bread to get each side to a golden brown. The outside grilled area of the bread will be toasted, leaving just the extreme middle of the bread fresh and warm.