My daughter and I tried to make a sour dough starter over her Christmas break. When the directions said it was ready to use we made sour dough bread. When we opened the jar – it smelled so sour, but we thought, it is sour dough, right? We made the bread and it was an epic fail. We determined our starter did not work.
I mentioned to my neighbor what happened and asked her if she knew anyone who had a good starter and she said she had a starter that she uses for everything! She brought me some and told me to stick it in my freezer until my daughter came home again in March. We were so excited!
When my daughter came home for spring break, I pulled the starter out of my freezer and thawed it and made bread again and it was an epic fail AGAIN! My sour dough starter neighbor had invited us to brunch the next day at her house. Her spread was amazing and everything was made with her starter! She had breakfast pizza with sour dough crust, sourdough cinnamon rolls, sour dough banana nut muffins, sour dough blueberry muffins! Everything was amazing!
I mentioned to her that our starter did not work. She said she had never froze hers but knew that you could. So, I did what I should have done in the first place, and I did an internet search. What I discovered is yes, you can freeze your starter, but you need to reactivate it after you thaw it and that takes a few days! So I felt silly I didn’t search that first, but happy to know I could try again!
I started feeding my starter everyday. I learned that you don’t have to feed it a cup everyday just equal amounts of flour (any kind) and water. I use 1/8 of a cup. And the water does not need to be warm. I also learned that if you don’t want to or can’t feed it every day you can put it in the refrigerator and feed it once a week.
My neighbor showed me her starter and told me to smell it and showed me what it should look like. I discovered my starter was working! And it was getting full! My neighbor told me that instead of throwing any way (as the starter recipe will tell you) that I should make pizza dough and stick it in my freezer! What a great idea! I made two large batches. The dough was wonderful – so soft and fluffy! The key to making good dough of any kind is you HAVE TO BE IN A GOOD MOOD! I learned this from Sister Colleen Ann when I first learned to make yeast bread with her. I was so happy, and my dough showed it! Since I made the large batch of dough, I cut each one in half and stuck them in my freezer.
Isn’t it beautiful??
I sprayed the dough with olive oil before wrapping so the cling would not stick. I also wrapped each dough two times.
You can let the dough rise before freezing or after you thaw. I wrote on the bag that it still needs to rise after it thaws so I remembered to do that when I was using it. I also put the date on it.
When my daughter came home again, I pulled out a dough and we decided to make pizza. The dough needed to thaw and to rise, so you will need to plan ahead to use it. I took it out in the morning and it was ready by dinner time. I decided to make 3 personal pizzas from the dough instead of one big one. I had a bunch of toppings and sauces and we each made our pizza the way we liked it. The crust was thin and crispy which is how my husband loves it. My daughter and I like it a little thicker. Next time, we would do one big pizza, or if making smaller ones, only make two from the dough instead of three. It was so good though! We really loved it and I think that we will be making pizza more often with this yummy dough!
Since it was so good, we decided to try one more time to make sour dough bread. This time, it worked! Sourdough is not a quick bread as it needs to rise 5 hours and then rest 45 minutes and then cook for 45 minutes, so allow enough time in your day! It’s not hard at all, you just need the time. We decided to bake it in a round cake pan. Its beautiful!!!!
We made avocado toast on it for breakfast and it was amazing! We like to buy the really good sour dough bread from local bakeries and we feel like this was just as good! We will definitely make this again! Since it made a large loaf, I am going to stick some in the freezer to test how it freezes. I’ll let you know what I find out.
Because I have my sour dough starter in a 4 cup jar I decided I need a larger jar so it doesn’t get full so fast. The 8 cup jar just arrived! It’s in the dishwasher and then I’ll switch jars. I still have to decide how much I’ll use it – might need to stick in my fridge so I can feed once a week. With just two of us at home, I don’t need to make too much bread. I do think I will try the starter for other things like muffins and rolls! I’ll keep you posted!
This recipe she used was from her bread maker cook book. She uses her bread maker for all her doughs. I don’t have my bread maker anymore so I used my KitchenAid mixer and it turned out perfect. Follow the directions for your pizza too. Enjoy!
Good for your soul 
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