Can You Freeze Your Sourdough Starter?

Can You Freeze Your Sourdough Starter?

Can you freeze a sourdough starter

by Tom Cucuzza – The Sourdough Journey

Can you freeze a sourdough starter?

Can you FREEZE your sourdough starter?
 
Freezing your starter won’t kill it, but it reduces its rising power by about 50% as compared to a fresh starter.
 
In this experiment I divided a batch of starter into “fresh” and “frozen.” I froze part of the starter until frozen solid (about 4 hours). Then I brought it back to room temperature and fed it 1:1:1, the same feeding I gave it’s fresh sibling at the same time and same temperature. The only difference in the two starters (from the same seed) was the freezing and thawing.
 
I measured the percentage rise in the starter, the CO2 production (utilizing a specialized pressure vessel), the pH and the temperature for 24 hours.
 
The frozen/thawed starter clearly has diminished rising capability. The starter began rising 5 hours later than the fresh starter, it produced about half as much CO2 at peak production and it never reached the same total CO2 as the fresh starter.
 
The pH values were not materially different between the samples, and I believe th pH difference explains little of the performance difference.
 
Conclusion: Freezing your starter damages the cell structure of the microbes and reduces their CO2 producing capabilities by approximately 50%.
 
Here is the chart in high resolution.
Can you freeze a sourdough starter
Can you freeze a sourdough starter
Can you freeze your sourdough starter?

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