Sourdough baking

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Sourdough baking

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Question - has anyone ever tried freeze a loaf after the cold ferment? (self.sourdough)

submitted 1 year ago by ObM to c/sourdough

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Hi all,

So I'm doing experiments to see how 'effortless' I can make fresh sourdough.

I have a dream - and maybe this can't be reality - of doing the cold ferment in a baneton, then transferring that to the freezer for long-term storage.

Has anyone managed to freeze a fully-proofed loaf before baking?

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[–] krayj 1 points 1 year ago

I haven't tried it exactly like that for bread, but I make a sourdough pizza dough (same basic recipe as my sourdough bread, just 10% less hydration), and I freeze it after cold proofing. Makes it really convenient to just whip out a pizza dough whenever I want to make a pizza.

For bread, since the structure is more fragile, I will par-bake my loaves, and then freeze. And then when I want 'fresh' bread, I'll pull out a par-baked frozen loaf, let it warm up to room temp, then finish the baking. It's indistinguishable from a fresh baked loaf.

My normal baking process for regular bread is: 20 minutes at 450f with steam, followed by 20 minutes at 450f without steam.

For par-baking then freezing, my process is: 30 minutes at 450f with steam, cool to room temp, freeze. Then thaw to room temp, then finish for 15 minutes at 415f.