There’s lots of information around about making refrigerator master doughs with yeast that you can leave in the fridge for a week or two and use portions to make things on short notice. The convenience factor is obvious.
What I’ve had trouble with is finding any similar tips or guides to doing the same with sourdough–I’m not sure if this is because google doesn’t understand what I’m asking or because it just isn’t often done. I only bake with sourdough in preference to instant yeast, because I find it easier and more convenient and it makes better bread. I make everything with starter, from pizza to pita to pastries to pan loaves. My starter, an heirloom I got from an uncle, is very vigorous and reliable and makes excellent results.
I’m wondering if anyone does batches of sourdough “refrigerator dough”? If so, are there any sourdough-specific tips or limitations to be aware of? My initial small experiments in that direction have been positive, but it would be nice to hear from anyone who already has more experience before making huge batches of dough and clearing out fridge space.
Thanks! I’m excited I finally got around to joining this forum.
I keep my starter in refrigerator and when I make my Levain build for bread I am making, I bring out of refrigerator to remove what is needed for starter amount in Levain build and then place main starter back in refrigerator. I keep doing this until starter gets down to where there is not enough for Levain build, I then do feeding cycle and once ripe I place back in refrigerator. This way I no longer have any discard. Before removing any of the starter for Levain build I use fork to mix very well. I keep my starter at 125% hydration.
This isn’t what you’re talking about but I’ve refrigerated pizza dough just after mixing and let it do all of its rising in the refrigerator. I used it five days later when it had doubled and the results were quite sour. Tasty with sauce and cheese though.
All that is to say, I’d probably mix and let rise at room temp some, and then use it on days 2,3,4,5 for flavor considerations, leaving pizza and focaccia for the end, because if it is usable by day 2, it will be over-fermented by day 5.
My practice with any dough in refrigerator is to use within 24 hours to no more than 48 hours, if 5 days goes by then I will usually throw out. It is only my sourdough starter that I keep in refrigerator for longer periods which I use to make my Levain build for dough I make.
Thank you, guys. This has been helpful for me making sense of this.
I guess it seems the basic idea is sound but the main variable is how long if at all the dough is allowed to bulk ferment before being stored–and the fact that how old the dough is affects the results of some types pf bread more than others. So it’s definitely not completely idiot proof but still seems worth continuing to explore, especially for flatbread type things where only a modest amount of dough is needed at once and the dough structure isn’t as crucial. I would definitely use it for last minute pizza and khachapuri dinners, maybe naan or lavash too.
Lately I’ve been into making this flattened sandwich bread from Malta called ftira. At least, it’s my interpretation of it from what I could piece together. It’s really simple to make and it’s best freshly baked so I’m experimenting with keeping some in the fridge so I can make one at a time fresh for lunch sandwiches.
That looks great, like a circle ciabatta. Did you bake it on that parchment paper covered baking sheet? Or on a preheated stone? Given that big increase in volume, I’m guessing hot stone.
Also, good explanation of the considerations and variables – I agree it’s worth pursuing for fresh-baked daily bread.
Funny you said ciabatta too, because that’s the impression I got from what I was able to read about it!
The pictures are slightly misleading actually because the finished bread was a previous batch that wasn’t quite as flattened as the one pictured proofing. I actually flattened that one too much and it almost crested a circular pita pocket–it’s still a work in progress… but we enjoyed esting it. I have yet to invest in a stone, but that would be really nice! I envy my friends one street over who have a wood fired pizza oven. I make most things in a large toaster oven that is all we have room for in our tiny kitchen. But I like to spin it to my advantage when I teach occasional mini workshops, to encourage people–along the lines of “if you can learn to bake delicious breads, in a barn, from a guy with a toaster oven who doesn’t own a set of measuring spoons, then…” that sort of thing…
That is great! I need to take your barn and toaster oven bread class some day…
Actually I was inspired to bake bread for the first time years ago by a food documentary that showed people baking bread all around the world with totally different kitchens, ovens, gear.
I experimented a little more with the timing throughout my last batch. I made a dough with two cups worth of flour (a mix of white and hard red whole wheat I milled), some salt and olive oil, just a little starter, like what I would use for an overnight bulk ferment.
I let it rise in that container all day long, until it had noticeably begun to rise, but not a fully mature bulk rise, then refrigerated. Two days later it looked like this:
A couple days after that it made a similar pita that puffed up also but didn’t have quite as nice a structure, though it could have been sloppy technique too…
I used the last of the dough 8 days after refrigerating it and it made a delicious naan-like flatbread but it didn’t puff up like a pita pocket, not much spring to it-- though it was still unmistakably leavened and soft, with a slight but pronounced tanginess in flavor (my current starter, from my uncle, which performs similarly to the one i got from Breadtopia earlier, is not a particularly sour one).
So clearly, even though this was not the most rigorous scientific study, there’s lots of room to play with here!
