Make Sandwiches With Frozen Bread to Get Rid of Dampness
The only sadder thing than opening a lunchbox to find a wet sandwich is opening your child’s lunchbox at the end of the day to find one completely untouched. Luckily, you can prevent wet lunchbox sandwiches by making them with frozen bread.
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Probably every one of your instincts screams “NO!” right now and I got it. Intuitively, frozen bread shouldn’t prevent the sandwich from turning into porridge between breakfast and lunch, but I promise you it does. I’ll cover why this works, but first I want to explain how to make a frozen bread sandwich. Unsurprisingly, this is very similar to making a regular sandwich – the basic rules for making sandwiches still apply – but there are four tricks to keep in mind.
Be more simple
The best frozen bread sandwich is a sandwich with three or four tops. Simple (and kid-friendly!) Combinations like ham and swiss dijon sauce, brie with butter and thinly sliced apples, or classic peanut butter and jelly are your best choices. Tuna, egg, and chicken salad sandwiches look much better on frozen bread, but still get wet after about four hours.
Make your sandwich in the morning
With very few exceptions – muffulet and pan-bagnat come to mind – sandwiches don’t get better over time. Prepare as much lunch as possible the night before, but make a sandwich in the morning before school or work.
Leave the bread in the freezer until the last minute
Frozen sliced bread thaws completely at room temperature in about 10 minutes. Since you want the bread to be completely frozen when assembling the sandwich, collect the ingredients before removing the bread from the freezer and work quickly.
Pass the bag and wrap it twice
The moisture in the air, not the moisture in the bread itself, is what makes frozen bread wet when it thaws. It follows that a sandwich plastic bag is the worst environment for a finished sandwich. I wrap mine twice – first with a thick layer of plastic wrap, then with a layer of foil to minimize exposure to air.
So why exactly does this work? Simply put, starting with frozen bread slows down the processes that make the sandwich soggy; this is because the starch molecules in bread absorb less water from the environment at subzero temperatures than at higher temperatures. It won’t keep your sandwich fresh indefinitely, but frozen bread will buy you a few precious hours battling softness.