Freezing pizza/bread dough with natural starters

[Bill/SFNM]

There was a little debate a while back about the harmful effects of freezing leftover uncooked dough. I've have always done it and even found the quality of the thawed and baked dough to be improved. However, I had never tried it using just natural starters. In the past I've used a combination of natural and commercial starters, but since I've become introduced to sourdo.com, I have been trying to eliminate commercial yeast entirely.

Last week I made up a big batch of baguette dough using the starter from sourdo.com that comes a bakery outside of Paris. After a room temp fermentation, I left the dough to retard in the refrigerator for three days (it rose another 50% in the refrigerator!). I then formed and baked a few baguettes and the rest of the dough was formed into baguettes and frozen or a few days, thawed and baked.

None of the loaves had as much oven bounce as those I used to make with some commercial yeast.  But for whatever reason, the frozen dough had better texture and flavor. In fact, the frozen dough may have produced the best bread ever (perhaps in part thanks to the Santos mixer). Anyway, here is a photo of the baguette made with the frozen dough. Neither the unfrozen nor frozen samples were as round as I like. I need to work a little on the hydration and kneading to get a rounder loaf, but the shape had noting to do with freezing.

Next test: pizza dough.

(http://www.cordless.com/images/breadX.jpg)

Bill/SFNM

[Ronzo]

That is beautiful, my friend.

[piroshok]

The dough looks superb large airy holes
About the flanks of the bread shaping I wonder if you have degassed the bread gently or pressed the dough after fermentation to release the carbon oxide that inhibits the yeast growth.
Was the dough sour because of the starter used?
I will be interested in your method since I often make breads with varying results

[Bill/SFNM]

I wonder if you have degassed the bread gently or pressed the dough after fermentation to release the carbon oxide that inhibits the yeast growth.
Was the dough sour because of the starter used?
I will be interested in your method since I often make breads with varying results

The dough was handled as gently as possible, trying not destory the delicate structure. However, during shaping, a lot of gas does escape.

The dough with this particular natural starter (French) is not sour at all.

Saludos,
Bill/SFNM

[piroshok]

Thanks but it is hard to see from the picture if it is a baguette or a stick or even a round bread loaf.
Care to comment of the flour used much of the rsult is owed to the flour type and protein levels too.
 

[Bill/SFNM]

I finally got around to testing the effect of freezing on pizza dough. Had friends over today for lunch and I made 2 pizzas using freshly-prepared Calmaldoli dough (retarded for 2 days in the refrigerator) and 2 pizzas using Calmaldoli dough that had been retarded for 2 days in the refrigerator and then frozen for 2 weeks. Taste tests were single-blind (I was the only one who knew which pizza was which).

In summary, no one could say one pizza was any better than any of the others. A lot of discussion centered around the difference between slices in a single pizza given uneven dough thickness and edge puffing,  uneven distribution of toppings, uneven cooking due to floor temp distribution, etc. Very simply, certain slices are going to be better than others. But it is perfectly clear that freezing dough in this way does no harm to the dough.

Here are pictures of one of the frozen doughs. Ignore the toppings. The cheese which I got at Sam's Club was not very good at all. But the crust was sensational:

(http://www.lanackerman.com/images/pizzaF1.jpg)

(http://www.lanackerman.com/images/pizzaF2.jpg)

[David]

Bill,
     I must have been asleep in September as I missed this thread!That's a Great looking crust BTW.

[Bill/SFNM]

Thanks, David. Since that post I have frozen many more pizza and bread doughs made with natural starters and have observed no negative effects on the final product. I understand there are cultures which do not survive low temps, but I guess I don't have any of those. You would think a culture from Camaldoli or Ischia would have no reason to have developed protection from freezing.

Bill/SFNM