Adventures With Freezing I.
I've always wondered how frozen unbaked bread can work. I've read that there are yeast varieties that have been specially developed to do well while frozen, but that wouldn't be my starter. Still, I know some people have frozen their dough and baked respectable bread. So I thought I'd try it myself.
The recipe is nearly the same as from the other day -
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/73930/trying-shorter-bulk
Changes were 30% starter instead of 20%, and 15% each graham and barley flours instead of 10% each of Irish-style flour and graham. An inadvertent change was that the starter was 9 hours past re-feed instead of 4. So the bulk ferment and proof were slow in developing.
Here is the result:
By amount of rising the bulk ferment was pretty short, shorter than the previous loaf. The dough was more elastic so I made a preform and rested before shaping. Proofing and freezing were free-standing, covered with plastic wrap. I refrigerated the loaf for 45 minutes then slashed it and put it in the freezer.
After 4 hours of freezing I brought the loaf out, uncovered it, and put it into the preheated oven onto the baking steel, and made my burst of steam. I turned the temperature setting down to 300 deg F as I have been doing lately but kept it there longer, for 18 minutes. Then I set the setting to 415 deg F and baked for another 22 minutes.
The loaf spread out sideways some during baking, and did not develop the sheen I normally expect. Otherwise, it had good expansion and excellent crumb. The flavor is also excellent, with a hint of tartness which I find I like. The crust is good though not great, not too thick or thin, a little crunchy and a little flaky.
All in all, this was a good start. Next time I'll freeze for longer.
into territory I haven't given thought to (freezing). Will be watching further developments, thanks.
I had this crazy idea...because you said the baking loaf spread out a little and I've noticed that frozen dough, when it thaws, gets wet on the outside. I wonder if frozen dough might need less steam than unfrozen dough. I'll call it the "inherent condensation factor", ha.
The loaf out of the freezer was covered by a tissue-thin skin of ice, believe it or not. I guessed that this would be a good thing. I did use my normal amount of steam (which isn't much, considering how my oven leaks). I noticed that steam stopped billowing out of the oven quicker than usual. I think that means the steam and oven air cooled down faster because of the frozen loaf. If that's the case, one probably does not need as much steam.
I'm pretty sure that the sideways spread happened because the interior stayed in its gelatinized state for longer than usual and the crust wasn't hardened up by then to contain it. So maybe we want the crust to harden quicker. Maybe we don't need steam at all. Wild!
A surprise was that this loaf only needed to bake for two minutes longer than it would have unfrozen.
As an aside, this is the only loaf I can remember where the next day I liked a plain buttered slice more than a toasted and buttered one. The crumb and flavor are that good!
That's pretty amazing...