April 27, 2009 - 4:42pm
Reinhart's 100% Whole Wheat
I started this project last night and it culminated in pizza today. Yum. Probably the best pizza I've -ever- had. Fresh mozzarella and home-grown herbs on a soft, flavorful, chewy whole wheat crust.
The problem is that the dough recipe makes 5 personal-sized pizzas and there's only two of us. The recipe says that the dough can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours before using - but nothing about freezing. I'm not REALLY in the mood to have pizza two nights in a row. Can this yeasted dough be frozen? If so, what steps do I need to take to freeze it and thaw it before baking next time?
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Almost every pizza dough recipe/formula I have ever seen says you can freeze the dough. In Reinhart's American Pie he says you can freeze the dough for up to 3 months. Now these are doughs with all white flour but I don't see why wheat flour would matter. Just bag them scaled to size and thaw them in the fridge overnight. Then use as you would if it was cold. Ie... pull it out of the fridge 2 hrs before shaping and baking.
I keep some frozen pizza dough just to have it on hand for a quick night pizza dinner...but never for long periods...never had a problem..makes great pizza...I just put the individual pizza balls in a lightly oiled zip lock sandwich bags and freeze. That way I can thaw how ever many pizza crusts I need.
Sylvia
Yes, by all means do it. I often make up a double recipe of pizza dough to freeze just so I have it. I also share with my daughter & family. I use oiled freezer bags & put the whole lot of them in another larger freezer bag. Be sure to squeeze all the air out. Never made it to the 3 month mark to see if the quality is still good much after.
I sometimes defrost mine in the fridge. Often times on the counter because it's only that day that we decide to have pizza. What works best for me is to take the frozen or semi defrosted dough out of the bag & put it in an oiled bowl. Sometimes it hasn't really warmed up too much but a few folds and turns and a short rest while assembling other ingredients & warming the oven. The oven goes on first as it takes a bit to warm the stone.
Never had a failure with frozen dough and I have been doing it for years.
Mariah
I have also just tried this method, and the pizza bases are of course great ! The dough works beautifully from the freezer too, once gently thawed and warmed.
What I most enjoy with this method is that I can have dough already made long before pizza baking day, and then whilst entertaining, the flattened individual doughs are so quick and easy to spin and shape they are ready for toppings in literally a few seconds.
Makes the whole evenings' workload much more enjoyable.
Paul.
Yeah, that's definitely going to take some practice! I won't tell you where my first one ended up.
Hi, How about baking it all, in say a sheet pan, or two pans, then slice into your preffered shapes, and freezing in aluminum foil? It works really well in single layers, in the number of pieces you usually need etc. Heats up at 325 or 350 very nicely, the crust will be crunchy too. Huge time saver. Regards, Ray