Why freezing your bread could make it healthier

Bread experts have long cautioned against storing bread in the refrigerator, noting that it can negatively affect the texture of the loaf, especially with rustic breads. However, freezing bread is an excellent storage method, and recent research suggests that not only does freezing keep bread from spoiling but it can also provide health benefits. While it may seem strange that a relatively few degrees of temperature can make such a big difference, studies show that there are significant changes in starches that happen during both of these cold storage techniques.

Refrigerating bread causes the starches to retrograde, meaning they realign their structure and form crystals that can make the bread harder and more crumbly. Soft, squishy, supermarket white bread is less affected by this phenomenon than artisan, rustic breads due to the amount of dough conditioners that are added, but even soft white sandwich bread can get tough and dry in the refrigerator (although the cold will slow down mold growth). A better option for storing bread you aren’t going to eat quickly is to freeze it.

The apparent extra benefit of freezing the bread is that it breaks down the starches in a way that makes them more resistant to digestive enzymes, lowering its glycemic index. The difference is more pronounced when the bread is toasted after being frozen. A few studies have found this effect, although they are relatively small in scale. Toasting bread – even without freezing it – also lowers its glycemic index, possibly because the starches are being destroyed by heating.

What’s interesting to me is that both refrigerating and freezing cause retrogradation of the starches, yet freezing doesn’t seem to negatively affect the texture as much as refrigerating. I haven’t seen any reporting on whether refrigerating bread also lowers the glycemic index, but I suspect it would. Since there are just two of us in the house, we often freeze bread because we won’t eat it before it gets stale. I guess that we have unwittingly been benefitting our guts with this practice.