How to Freeze Sourdough Bread, Scones, & More (Easy & Fast)

I’m so excited to share how to freeze sourdough bread, scones, cookies, waffles and more!

This will apply to so many different recipes and is such a help for when you are busy or experiencing a life change.

This post will discuss methods of freezing and defrosting for sourdough recipes as well as how to plan a bulk bake.

How I planned my bulk bake for freezing

When I was 36 weeks pregnant with my 5th baby, my biggest two kids were on a trip with their grandparents which gave me some extra time in the evening and meant that my two biggest sourdough eaters were out of the house. 😉

So I planned to make several big batches of sourdough goods my family and I would enjoy after the baby arrives in the postpartum period.

I used my meal planning worksheet that I created in a word document to plan out which days I’d be prepping and baking the different recipes. See an example below.

Check out my post for how to plan out a sourdough baking schedule for the week for ideas for planning.

Or get an editable copy of my free Menu Planning Template here.

Sample bulk bake schedule to freeze

Here’s the schedule I planned out:

Sunday PM: Refresh starter for Monday’s recipes
Monday AM: Make double batch of Honey Oat Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread, double batch of Sourdough Tortillas, Sourdough Discard Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and my big batch of Once a Week No Knead Sourdough
Monday PM: Cook tortillas (Honey Oat Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread shaped and proofing in fridge, bowl of cookie dough in fridge, big batch of No Knead Sourdough sitting out at room temp)
Tuesday AM: Bake sandwich loaves and English muffins, shape cookie dough and par freeze
Tuesday PM: Make Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Spice Scones Dough then put in fridge overnight, make Sourdough Discard Sponge for waffles tomorrow, put cookie dough balls, english muffins, and sandwich bread slices into freezer bags
Wednesday AM: Make Overnight Sourdough Waffles, shape and refrigerate scones
Wednesday PM: Par freeze scones, put waffles into a freezer bag

The rest of the week was baking to restock for the weekend and my big kids’ arrival home.

Here’s a video of how my plan played out in real life! Some adjustments were made to my planned schedule 😉

Strategies for making extra sourdough goods

If you’d like to make extra sourdough baked goods, there are two great ways to make extra for storage.

First, you could make extra every time you plan a recipe and store half or a portion.

This works great if you only want extra for “just in case” and/or you don’t have extra time to add baking projects into your week.

The second option is to plan on a big bulk baking week, weekend, or just a few days.

This option is ideal if you have a flexible schedule, you have experience with doing multiple bakes, and/or you are planning for a specific time like postpartum, post-surgery, or other need.

For either option, check out this post for how to schedule your sourdough baking week: How to Schedule Sourdough Baking in Your Busy Life (Samples)

Getting Started with Sourdough

If you are still learning about sourdough and need help with understanding the stages and cycle of sourdough starters, make sure to get my free Quick Start Sourdough Guide.

This has so much info from starter 101 and recognizing an active sourdough starter to timing to making your first loaf of bread!

Which items do you freeze baked?

You will want to freeze items already baked if they are in the form of batter or if it is bread or something leavened with yeast.

Yeast in dough can became less viable if stored for too long in the freezer, so it is preferable to bake bread and completely cool it before freezing.

Here are some items that work best to freeze after they have been baked:

Loaf of bread
Slices of bread
Sliced English muffins
Waffles
Pancakes
Cookies (work well both ways)

Which items do you freeze unbaked?

It can be fun to have some ready to bake items waiting in the freezer.

Baked goods that work especially well are ones that are small individual portions and/or include baking soda or baking powder that can work well in the final rise.

Here are some items that work well freezing unbaked:

Scones
Balls of cookie dough

Other items that can be frozen unbaked, but shouldn’t be kept in the freezer longer than a week for best baking results. To defrost and bake, these sourdough bread dough items should be defrosted before baking (see considerations section below):

Pizza dough
Dinner rolls
Cinnamon rolls
Pastries like croissants

How to freeze and defrost a loaf of bread

After your loaf has fully baked and cooled, wrap it in heavy-duty aluminum foil to freeze. Use two layers of foil to protect against freezer burn.

Then wrap it in two layers of plastic wrap or a gallon sized freezer bag.

To defrost, preheat your oven to 325-350 degrees F.

Unwrap the loaf and place it in the oven directly on the center rack or on a baking sheet. Add a few sprays of water to the walls of the oven to add some extra steam.

Bake the loaf for 20-60 minutes, the timing will depend on how large the sourdough loaf is.

The center should be fully thawed. I usually cut the loaf in half to get the best idea if its thawed or not.

When thawed, the inside of the bread should be soft, warm, and steamy.

It’s a great way to enjoy fresh bread that you made on a previous bake day.

My favorite method to freeze a whole loaf of bread

The best way, in my opinion, to freeze a whole loaf of bread is to completely slice the entire loaf in order to freeze slices of bread.

Once all the slices are cut, place them into one or two gallon sized heavy duty freezer ziplock bags.

Try to get as much air out as possible then place the bags of sliced bread into the freezer.

If you freeze a whole loaf of sourdough bread, you will basically have to rebake it in order to get it completely defrosted.

Individual slices that are frozen, can be quickly and easily defrosted and enjoyed even by kids.

Take out a slice, place it in a toaster or toaster oven. Use the defrost setting and toast.

Usually the medium setting will be enough to defrost the slice of bread, but you might need to test with your toaster to find the ideal doneness you want.

How to Freeze and Defrost Sourdough Waffles or Pancakes

If you’ve ever looked at the ingredients for popular store-bought frozen waffles or pancakes you may have been shocked at what ingredients are added that aren’t compatible with a healthy real food diet.

Or maybe the heavy price tag for something that leaves you still hungry is the deterrent.

Frozen sourdough waffles and pancakes are my favorite breakfast hack for a busy morning, plus my kids love making their own!

First, when I make sourdough waffles or sourdough pancakes, I try to make a big batch so that we’ll have a few leftover.
Then, I let them cool at room temperature completely.
Once cool, I get a large freezer safe zippered plastic bag and some small pieces of parchment paper. The parchment paper helps the waffles and pancakes not stick to each other.
The waffles or pancakes get stacked with a small piece of parchment paper in between each one and placed into the bag.
Press as much air out of the bag as possible, seal well and place in freezer.
To defrost, place a waffle or pancake into the toaster or toaster oven on the defrost setting on medium until it is no longer frozen or damp.

Perfect Big Batch Recipes for Sourdough Waffles and Pancakes

How to Freeze and Bake Sourdough Scones or Cookies

Freeze sourdough scones or cookies easily before baking for a convenient treat later. Thanks to the baking soda or powder in these recipes, the yeast won’t cause issues when you bake them after freezing.

For the best flavor and digestibility, let sourdough scones and cookies ferment. Scones can ferment in the fridge either as a bowl of dough or, for better results, shape them first and then let them ferment covered in plastic wrap.

Cookies, on the other hand, are simpler—they can be scooped and fermented in a covered bowl without needing to be rolled or shaped like scones.

After the time of fermentation in the fridge, prepare a rimmed cookie sheet that fits the width of your freezer with parchment paper.
Place unbaked scones or balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheet then cover with a sheet of plastic wrap and place in the freezer to par-freeze for 1 to 2 hours.
Label a freezer safe gallon sized ziplock bag with the contents and baking instructions (temperature and timing, adjusted for frozen dough–see step 5) for quick reference.
Place the frozen balls of cookie dough or unbaked scones into the labeled freezer-safe bag and return to the freezer.
When you want to bake your cookies or scones, take out the desired amount, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake according to recipe, add 1-2 minutes to the minimum bake time when baking scones or cookies from frozen.

Favorite Sourdough Scone and Cookie Recipes:

Considerations for Freezing and Defrosting Pizza Dough, Cinnamon Rolls, Dinner Rolls, and more

Don’t keep yeasted sourdough dough recipes like pizza dough, bread dough, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, etc. in the freezer longer than a week for best results.

For balls of pizza dough, dinner rolls, or other recipes with the dough shaped a certain way or divided into individual portions, do a par-freeze. Place the portions of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze for 1-2 hours until the dough is frozen and set.
Once frozen, transfer the frozen dough into a large freezer-safe ziplock bag and place into the freezer.
Defrost your dough in the fridge or at room temperature, depending on the type of dough:
- To defrost, a slow defrost in the fridge will be the most gentle and is recommended for fillings made with sugar for less osmosis (when the sugars absorb moisture and create more liquid). Defrosting in the fridge takes 6-18 hours for most dough types. The dough should feel soft to the touch after the fridge defrost. Then the dough needs to proof.
- Dough that doesn’t contain a sugar filling, can be left at room temperature to defrost AND proof! This typically takes an overnight time period of about 8-12 hours.
Proofing: As mentioned above, the yeasted dough needs to proof after defrosting. Pizza dough doesn’t need to proof in the same way that dinner rolls need to defrost. However, pizza dough should be room temperature and have done a dough rest in order to shape well for pizza making.
Bake the defrosted and proofed dough according to the corresponding recipe.

Save Time by Freezing

When you have a busy schedule or some a life event coming up that will disrupt your regular bread baking schedule, a make-ahead option for sourdough bread and sourdough recipes is a huge help!

You can make a second loaf of your favorite homemade sourdough bread and save it in the freezer for future use or plan a full day of baking to stock your freezer.

I hope these instructions help you make healthy bread and baked goods easier to have on hand when you’re busy!

Favorite Sourdough Bread Recipes to Make Ahead:

Sourdough Country Bread (perfect for beginners with step-by-step instructions with photos and videos)
Sourdough Honey Oat Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread (a great go-to recipe for a healthy wholesome bread)
Fluffiest Sourdough Challah Bread
Savory Sourdough Cheese Twist Rolls
Easy Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Timing Help

The #1 need for sourdough bakers is help with time planning, so I created a resource for you.

Sourdough Time Planning Workbook: Perfect for new or experienced bakers, this workbook includes 8 templates ready to fill in and a baking journal. The templates cover 4 different ways to make classic sourdough country breads, 3 time planning worksheets for enriched sourdough bread depending on serving time target, and a blank template. The baking journal goes over baker’s percentages and how to take notes on your sourdough bakes.

Get a free sample of the workbook: Use this sourdough time planning worksheet sample to simplify your baking.