I was wondering if anyone could help me. I have recently started baking and dived right into the deepend with sourdough. After a few failed attempts I have managed to produce some decent loaves using the stretch and fold teckneque during the first prove. The problem is I make the bread on the weekend, but I would like to be able to make it mid week so I can use it for my sandwiches for lunch at work but the proving time is too long to bake after work. I know putting the dough in the fridge slows the proving process so you can bake the next morning. But I was wondering if you could shape the dough then freeze it, to be baked at your leisure. Or would it kill the shape and retard the yeast? Thanks a lot, spike
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The short answer is yes, you can freeze dough. It will retard the yeast and you would have to ensure it defrosted thoroughly prior to baking it off. There are two methods. One is to flatten and fold the dough and freeze it. This method allows for a fairly rapid defrost and it is easier to determine that it is defrosted before shaping into the loaf for the final rise. The second method is to shape the loaf and freeze it. You pull it out, allow it to defrost and rise, then bake it off.
Elkhorn
Thanks for the advice.
I'll give it a try.
Thanks
I agree with Elkorn, it is most definitely okay to freeze dough. In fact, we have heard stories about how when frozen dough is defrosted correctly, meaning it is let to rest and complete thaw out, the flavors seem to be more pronounced.
This may not be exactly the kind of information you are looking for. Still you may find it of interest: whenever I am short of time for baking bread, I buy genuine frozen sourdough loaves from a bakery near where I live. The loaves are already fully baked when they arrive at the bakery (from where I don't know) AND they are totally frozen. The bakery simply heats them up in an oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and sells them thus to the customers. If you ask, they will sell you the frozen ones as well. I have bought quite a few of their frozen ones at some point. When reheated at the above-mentioned temperature, they are still very good and they keep for several days. I was rather surprised by all this the first time I encountered this. But there you go.
Thank you for your comments everyone.
I will give it a try and let you know how it goes.