Dough Freezing Problems

[CosmicMiami]

G,day Pitmasters,

I'm experimenting with some pizza dough. I found a decent NY style dough recipe. After figuring out the whole kneading things to get the dough less sticky, I think I got that part down.

My goal is to be able to freeze the dough in advance. I have read to allow a cold ferment in the fridge then bag up and freeze. The tip I read was to keep as much air in the dough as possible when removing from the cold ferment and into freezer bags. Well that's just about impossible. My dough doubled in size while in the fridge. I followed the recipe to the letter and number for quantity.

When I remove the dough from the freezer I think it will need a short proof.

Any suggestions on preparing dough for freezing and some tips on when it is thawed before stretching to make the pie?

Thanks.

[rickgregory]

My only tips are 1) get as much air out as possible (think about freezing bare and the vacsealing) to avoid freezer burn and to thaw the dough in the fridge before taking it out to work with. So if I wanted to make 'za tomorrow, I'd remove the frozen dough now and put it in the fridge, then remove from the fridge a couple of hours before I wanted to work with it.

Also, if the dough doubled in the fridge... did you measure things by weight or volume? And did you use the same kind of yeast as specified?

[WayneT]

Currently, I bag and freeze my dough right after mixing with a bit of oil in each bag. Next time I will try freezing my dough balls first on a sheet pan, then after they are frozen, put a bit of oil in the bags before the dough goes in. I've never had any issues with my flat dough 'waking up' but just want to try a different method.

[captainlee]

I freeze my dough in a vacuum seal bag. It works ok, the thawed dough just isn't quite the same as fresh. I thaw in the frig and set it on the counter for a few hours before forming.

[RonB]

I agree with rickgregory . Freeze on a cookie sheet or something similar and use parchment paper to keep it from sticking.
Once frozen hard, vac seal it if you have a vac sealer. If not, put it in zipper bags made for freezing. Before you seal it, get as much air out as possible. A straw will help with this. Allow at least a day in the refrigerator, and take it out of the fridge at least several hours before time to bake. If it's still partly frozen, take it out earlier.

I normally put the individually packaged doughs inside a larger freezer bag for added protection.

The reason for a long fridge ferment is to enhance flavor. It's not necessary, but will improve the flavor of the crust. If you plan your meals long enough in advance, you can do the long ferment in conjunction with the thaw by moving the dough to the fridge several days before time to use.

[CosmicMiami]

Also, if the dough doubled in the fridge... did you measure things by weight or volume? And did you use the same kind of yeast as specified?

By weight. My scale doesn't have decimal grams just single digits. Recipe was 3g for 820g 00 flour. The cold ferment seems to be more than I would expect.

[rickgregory]

Huh, well.. that seems reasonable. You just have sturdy yeast.

[Steve B]

Bringing this thread back up as I also have a question or two.

Is it better to freeze right after mixing or should I let the dough cold ferment for a couple of days before freezing?

If letting it ferment and poof would it be good to "deflate" the dough before freezing?

Some of my other questions were answered above. May have more.....