Five Grain Levain Bread Baked from Frozen
When I first made this bread (recipe currently on the top right of FL), I froze two loaves. I baked the first of the frozen loaves today, and it really came out well. I defrosted the dough in the fridge during the day yesterday, and did a stretch and fold and shaping before putting it into the covered baker to retard in the fridge overnight.
The crumb was a little more open on the frozen loaf than the loaf baked right away. The frozen loaf crumb is above; the crumb baked freshly is below. I continue to have decent luck with frozen loaves. This dough was frozen May 12, so it was frozen for about five weeks. This dough seems to hold up very well from frozen, as it was easy to deal with when it thawed. The baked bread today was very moist and tangy, and got the thumps-up from my husband. Both loaves were excellent; I have one more frozen, so we will see how that is after baking. I am sure I will continue to experiment.
Comments
master Phyllis! This is such a nice bread and so easy to do - when it is already done - a real ace in the hole.
Happy Baking Phyllis
I was happy it turned out so well. One more to go. I wanted to start from scratch, but I saw that I had two frozen loaves, so had to bake those first. It is a wonderful recipe. Thanks for your comment. best, Phyllis
Remind me: Did you use instant yeast or just levain for this bread?
I'd say that was a big success!
David
David: No yeast, just levain, and it worked great. More experiments ahead! best, Phyllis
Great loaf Phyllis - And so convenient to fit into a household schedule which allows you to produce wonderful bread at short notice - This bread is one of my wife's favourites but I haven't tried this method (Yet)
I wonder if this/your process is suitable for large scale use by commercial bakeries, so they could sell freshly baked, on the premises, lovely looking and tasty sour dough loaves in supermarkets.
I would buy these, freshly baked, in a supermarket - What do others think?
More power to your elbow Phyllis.
Happy baking,
Brian
Brian: Thanks for your comment. I would say that some folks have had mixed experience with freezing dough. Many more people on this site bake the bread and then freeze it. I don't have enough room in my freezer for baked bread, so I freeze the dough to bake later. I generally have had very good luck doing this, but some loaves have been better than others. It seems like the dough with the soakers/mixed grains turn out great this way. Perhaps there is a limit to the amount of time the dough can be frozen. I am not sure it would turn out as well after six months. Perhaps that is my next experiment. Best, Phyllis