Freezing pizza dough

lilylove

Active member
How long can you freeze home made pizza dough made with yeast and still expect it rise nicely when thawed out??


Does yeast die from being frozen?:chef:


Thanks!
 

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
I don't know how long it lasts but I know that it doesn't die when frozen because I actually buy my yeast in big packages at Sam's and keep it in the freezer in a ziplock bag so it will last well past the expiration date.
 
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Miniman

Mini man - maxi food
Gold Site Supporter
Yeast just goes dormant when frozen - should stay good for a long time.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
How long can you freeze home made pizza dough made with yeast and still expect it rise nicely when thawed out??

Up to 3 months.

Does yeast die from being frozen?:chef:


Thanks!

No. As Miniman said, it merely goes dormant. Like Mama, I buy my Instant Yeast in 1# vacuum sealed bricks, and keep a 4 oz jar in the fridge, and teh rest in a tightly sealed container in my freezer. It will keep in the freezer for well over one year.

Have fun. Go bake something and post sone pics for us.
 

PieSusan

Tortes Are Us
Super Site Supporter
lilylove, I always buy yeast in bulk as well and keep mine if the freezer. However, once it is past its expiration date, I always proof my older yeast before I use it to ensure that there won't be a failure. No use wasting all that time and energy and not have something rise. Yeast loses its potency as it ages, and can require longer rising times. Low and slow rises help develop flavor.

As for frozen bread dough the answer depends upon what kind of dough. Freezer dough recipes are high in yeast and sugar and low in salt. Bread flour recipes hold up better than all purpose flour. Lean dough, such as your pizza dough, freezes better than rich dough made with butter and egg.

To freeze dough, use a freezer proof bag and only freeze the dough up to four weeks. It is best to freeze the dough in the shape that you are going to want it in (round, square, rectangle--I learned that from a Master Class with Nick Malgieri)

Thaw frozen dough either at room temp or in the fridge in the freezer bag. Then, remove from the bag, shape, let rise, and bake as dictated by your recipe.

To shape your dough before freezing, cover your needed kneaded dough and let rest 20 minutes. Shape as you wish and freeze as quickly as possible.
 

lilylove

Active member
Thanks guys... it was a pizza dough. Paul made it. We froze it over a month ago and thawed it yesterday. It failed to rise when thawed. Maybe if we had waited longer. Oh well... we rolled it out and used it anyway. Tasted mighty fine!!
 

PieSusan

Tortes Are Us
Super Site Supporter
In a pinch, dough can be rescued by adding fresh yeast.
For each envelope of yeast in your bread dough recipe, combine in a large, warm bowl:
1/4 cup lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon sugar, and 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast and stir to dissolve. Using an electric mixer, slowly beat in small pieces of dough until about 1/2 of the dough is incorporated. Then, with a large wooden spoon, stir in the rest of the dough. Knead the dough and add just enough flour so that the dough is not sticky. Then, you can let rise, shape and bake as your recipe dictates.
 

Wart

Banned
We froze it over a month ago and thawed it yesterday. It failed to rise when thawed. Maybe if we had waited longer.


Probably, it takes frozen yeast a while to wake up. Longer than it takes to get it warm.

I freeze dough balls. Put them in the fridge for a day or more to thaw, then put in a warm box at 105 to 115 degrees (Oven with pilot light) to jump start. While in the box the dough needs rotated/kneaded regularly to get the heat through the ball. And cold dough is a bit more difficult to work with so it needs warmed to make it a bit easier to shape.

And working with cold dough is like "cooking' with anything else that's cold, the outside will cook and the inside will be raw, so to speak.
 

lilylove

Active member
I think... after reading all of this... we should have waited a lot longer for the dough to rise. BUT... wouldn't have risen in the over as it baked?

As I've mentioned before YEAST is not my friend!!!! lol
 

Miniman

Mini man - maxi food
Gold Site Supporter
No, the problem is that the outside will cook and harden before the inside gets a chance to do the rising.

As Wart said, better to let them come all the way to room temperature and the ball to double in size before moving on. Cold yeast takes a long time to reactivate.
 

lilylove

Active member
so, it was just that we didn't wait long enough. Ok! Next time I'll take the dough out the night before instead of in the morning.


THANKS EVERYONE!!!
 

Derek

Banned
Just let the dough get back to room temp before you do anything with it.

In the mean time go ahead and get your ingredients chopped & diced.
 
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