December 25, 2009 - 8:35pm
Homemade frozen pizza?
Hey, I was just wondering, has anyone ever tried making their own frozen pizza? I like to make a pan style pizza but sometimes I just don't have the time to make one. Could I just dress and top the pizza and then freeze it and bake straight from the freezer? Or should I parbake the crust a little and then top it and freeze it? Any tips and comments would be appreciated. It sure would be convenient to just make a bunch of pizzas and freeze them, so after a long day I could just pull one out and have dinner ready quick. And I know they would be alot better than the ones you buy.
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In the summertime, I often take pizza dough, stretch it onto a screen, and grill both sides outside until they are set and lightly browned. Then I freeze the "shells" until I want a pizza. Only takes a few minutes to sauce, cheese and top and they bake up in less than 15 minutes in a good size toaster oven. And they taste very good.
Because I give wood-fired oven classes, I often have a lot of leftover pizza dough around. Sometimes I just freeze unbaked dough and defrost it for several hourst in the fridge, shape, top and bake. Other times, I'll parbake the stretched rounds with a little olive oil and tomato sauce, cool, wrap and freeze. And then sometimes I'll just bake off the pizzas already topped, cool, wrap and freeze. And then when someone wants a quick meal, they just take out a pie and heat it in the toaster oven turned up high. If the dough was tasty to start with, it will still be tasty after freezing. No, it's not the same as one straight from the oven, but IMHO, it's still better than any frozen pizza you can buy.
Hi farina22, thanks for the reply.I have frozen pizza dough balls before with no problem. So you have parbaked crusts with tomato sauce on them ,and then frozen them, and just put the cheese and other toppings on striaght out of the freezer and baked them off? I would like to have them ready to go in the oven like the ones you buy in the store. I'll have to expierament in the next couple of weeks and see what works and what doesnt. But that is half the fun of cooking, isn't it? I'll keep you all posted on what happens. Thanks! =o)
I have always wanted to try making homemade frozen pizza. My husband and little man love pizza so if I can make and freeze the pizza in advance; whenever I have to go out they can just pop one into the oven. Al
I have a small bakery/cafe and am the only cook. One of our most popular items is pizza and I've had to figure out how to produce a fresh 8" thin-crust pizza with little advance notice. I make-up a large batch of dough and then scale into 3oz portions; round and proof for 45 minutes covered. I deflate one individual ball of dough in a bowl whose bottom is covered with medium grind cornmeal then stretch into a round. Shake off excess cornmeal and use a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to produce an 8" round. I stack these between plastic wrap 10 high, supporting them with an 8" metal pizza grid top & bottom, then slide into a zipper freezer bag. The grids keep the bases flat. Once frozen for 24 hours I remove the grids and gently separate each layer then return the bag to the freezer.
When I need to make a pizza I remove one pizza base and dust the bottom with flour. Place on an 8" pizza grid and quickly sauce & add toppings. Onto the tile covered floor of my commercial convection oven (set as high as it can go, for 20 minutes, ie. 500 degrees). Bake for four minutes, slide it off the grid directly onto the hot tiles and bake 2 more minutes or until cheese is bubbly brown. Take out, sprinkle with fresh herbs, slice and serve.
I tried to post some pictures using Debra Wink's helpful info but was told my the image was too big and I'm not savvy enough to make needed changes.