Thanks for the pointers about leaving the bread in the pan for about a minute or so and wrapping a small number of slices before putting them in another bag and into the freezer. One thing that I would add is to use the "poke test" rather than to rely on eyeballing whether bread has risen an inch above the top of the pan. When it looks like it's close to being risen in the pan, make an indentation with your index finger at the end of the loaf. If the indentation fills back slowly, then it's ready to go into the oven, no matter how high it has risen in the pan. If the indentation stays, then get the loaf into the oven ASAP because it has started to overproof. Getting bread into the oven before the loaves have risen too far has been very helpful to me in preventing "tunnels" at the top or loaves that collapse during baking.
May 25, 2024 at 11:29am
Thanks for the pointers about leaving the bread in the pan for about a minute or so and wrapping a small number of slices before putting them in another bag and into the freezer. One thing that I would add is to use the "poke test" rather than to rely on eyeballing whether bread has risen an inch above the top of the pan. When it looks like it's close to being risen in the pan, make an indentation with your index finger at the end of the loaf. If the indentation fills back slowly, then it's ready to go into the oven, no matter how high it has risen in the pan. If the indentation stays, then get the loaf into the oven ASAP because it has started to overproof. Getting bread into the oven before the loaves have risen too far has been very helpful to me in preventing "tunnels" at the top or loaves that collapse during baking.