HELP - - - Freezing Pizza Dough
Re: Adaptation of Jim Lahey's NoKnead Pizza - - - adding honey into the formula.
Day One - Mixed ingredients and let dough ferment for 18 Hrs at 70 degrees.
Day Two - Divided dough and immediately froze unneeded dough in oiled freezer bags.
Day Five - Transferred frozen dough into refrigerator at about 10:00 PM
Day Six - Removed dough from refrigerator at about 2:00 PM for final rise.
PROBLEM: The dough now had a rancid odor and subsequently threw the dough away.
QUESTION: Has anyone had similar experiences, and/or can anyone explain what may have gone wrong? I've frozen pizza frequently without the honey, but have no clue what went wrong this time. The pizza that was baked on Day Two after the 18 Hr fermentation and subsequent 2.5 hour final rise was great.
Any thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.
Neil C. Denver
Maybe the oil you used in your freezer bags was old. That would make them smell and taste rancid. I'm pretty sure the honey wouldn't have anything to do with making your dough rancid. I often freeze leftover Portuguese Sweet Bread dough which has lots of honey in it.
Edith, Thanks for your interest and suggestions.
It may have been the oil, since I often use the spray cans, but not too often. I'll spray some into an empty freezer bag and see what happens.
Again, thanks
Neil
deleted
it could be that your dough thawed out by 6AM and spent the next 8 hours gasping for air in the ziploc? Maybe put it in the fridge to thaw in the morning when you get up and see if that makes a difference.
-Mark
Mark,
Thanks for the advice. I'll try that soon.
Neil
P.S. We truly appreciate the time you devote to 'we' amateurs on this site.
It had to be the oil. The dough can't get a rancid flavor by itself and the honey can't provide it either. Your 18 hour unretarded rise is really long, With a four hour allowance for cool down in the fridge and warm up out you are pushing 24 hours. While you can sort of get away with that with a low initial yeast dose, the dough almost has to be overproofed. If you haven't tried retarding I would encourage you to divide the next batch in half after a half hour of proofing and retard half in the fridge and take it out about two hours before you want to bake. (Note: this may need some adjustment if you use really low yeast. It should give you a puffier cornicione and brown better for it will have more sugar in the dough!
Good Luck!
Jay
I've frozen dough without oiling the plastic bags first. No real problem getting the dough back out of the bag later. I just put it on a plate on the counter to thaw. If it breaks the bag ok. If not, that's ok too. The bag just peels off the dough either way.
HTH,
LisaAlissa