Dunk your bagels

[Onamuji]

I had some bagels on the verge of becoming paperweights.

Have read in various places that you should dunk your bagels in water before toasting if you want to freshen them.

Just tried it.

Worked.

Sliced, then held soft-side-up very briefly under the faucet. Then tapped a couple of times on a towel to clear any water clinging to it so it wouldn't drip in the oven and toasted face-down on the rack.

Came out beautifully.

[Racer X]

I will NOT look up "dunking your bagel" on Urban Dictionary. I'm afraid of what I might find.

Spritzing dry french or sourdough with water and a quick microwave in a paper bag works for those breads.

[cbelt3]

I just put a half teaspoon of water on 'em and nuke them for 10 seconds.

[mrbigstuff]

dip bagels briefly in water, wrap in alu foil, toaster oven on low for about 8-10m

[rgG]

We freeze our bagels and remove at night so they are thawed by the morning.
This keeps them fresh for weeks.

[steve...]

rgG wrote:
We freeze our bagels and remove at night so they are thawed by the morning.
This keeps them fresh for weeks.

(tu)

Same here. In the morning they're nice and yummy.

[Onamuji]

steve... wrote:
[quote=rgG]
We freeze our bagels and remove at night so they are thawed by the morning.
This keeps them fresh for weeks.

(tu)

Same here. In the morning they're nice and yummy.
Freezing makes bread go stale more quickly.

I wonder whether you're inadvertently doing the "dunk" from condensation. Water migrates out of bread and into the wrapping (assuming that it's wrapped) when bread is frozen. It can be reabsorbed if left to thaw for awhile in a tight wrapper. Otherwise, bread from the freezer will be very stale.

[davester]

Onamuji wrote:
Freezing makes bread go stale more quickly.

I wonder whether you're inadvertently doing the "dunk" from condensation. Water migrates out of bread and into the wrapping (assuming that it's wrapped) when bread is frozen. It can be reabsorbed if left to thaw for awhile in a tight wrapper. Otherwise, bread from the freezer will be very stale.

That's not true. refrigerating bread makes it go stale. Freezing in a moisture-proof wrapper does not.

[SDGuy]

davester wrote:
[quote=Onamuji]
Freezing makes bread go stale more quickly.

I wonder whether you're inadvertently doing the "dunk" from condensation. Water migrates out of bread and into the wrapping (assuming that it's wrapped) when bread is frozen. It can be reabsorbed if left to thaw for awhile in a tight wrapper. Otherwise, bread from the freezer will be very stale.

That's not true. refrigerating bread makes it go stale. Freezing in a moisture-proof wrapper does not.
:agree:
Actually remember reading an article that explained why this is so, sometime mid-late '80s and have been freezing my bread products ever since (a quick zap in the microwave brings them back to warm, soft goodness)

[Onamuji]

davester wrote:
[quote=Onamuji]
Freezing makes bread go stale more quickly.

I wonder whether you're inadvertently doing the "dunk" from condensation. Water migrates out of bread and into the wrapping (assuming that it's wrapped) when bread is frozen. It can be reabsorbed if left to thaw for awhile in a tight wrapper. Otherwise, bread from the freezer will be very stale.

That's not true. refrigerating bread makes it go stale. Freezing in a moisture-proof wrapper does not.
Freezing precipitates water out of bread, but if you thaw it in that wrapper, the bread can suck much of the moisture back.

Do some Googling. You'll see that I'm right.