How to freeze or refresh sourdough

Sourdough freezes incredibly well due to the high hydration of dough. So, if you have loaves that are not immediately devoured, you have 2 freezing options:

❄️Option 1-

  1. Freeze the entire loaf in your choice of packaging - eg. container, reusable bag, beeswax wrap or zipped oilcloth bag.

  2. When desiring loaf to be defrosted, remove loaf from freezer and packaging. Defrost at room temperature for a few hours or until no longer frozen.

  3. Heat oven and tray to 200.c.

  4. Place loaf on preheated tray for 10 mins until crispy.

  5. Try to allow the loaf to cool for an hour so the crust and starches reconstitute. (While very tempting to slice while loaf is hot, this will affect the texture and flavour).

  6. Slice and enjoy!

❄️Option 2 -

  • Slice loaf into serving portions (eg. 2 slices)

  • Package serving in choice of packaging - container, beeswax wrap or other and freeze.

  • Ahead of time, remove serving and allow to come to room temperature. -⚡️Please try to refrain from microwaving sourdough as it will suck all the moisture and enjoyment out of the bread. But if time does not allow, wrap your frozen slices in a damp cotton cloth (eg tea towel) and defrost on low energy mode in 10 second bursts until the bread is warm but not hot.

  • Enjoy!

So, its been 3+ days and your loaf has become hard as a rock…. Maybe your eyes were bigger than your stomach? Maybe you forgot to freeze it? Maybe your visitors turned out to be gluten-free (Horror!?!)

Fear not, your sourdough is not ready for the chooks. You can refresh stale loaves.

There is an old and well-practiced solution. (note: this is for whole loaves exclusively)

  • Turn your oven on to 200.c and place tray inside to heat up.

  • Grab your stone like loaf and run it under the tap, very thoroughly. The crust should be completely wet.

  • Place your loaf on hot tray and rebake for 10mins.

  • Pull refreshed, recrisped, recrunchified, recrusty bread out from the oven and allow to cool down. (While very tempting to slice while loaf is hot, this will affect the texture and flavour).

  • When cool, slice and munch to your heart’s content.