What is procedure for taking out a frozen dough Ball

[Lester7009]

What is procedure for taking out a frozen dough Ball

Put in frig night before ?
After frozen Ball is though-ed out do you Ball then place back in frig for 8 to 12 hours ?
then Take out and let sit for 2 hours or room temp ?
Then make Pie ?

Thanks

[norma427]

What is procedure for taking out a frozen dough Ball

Put in frig night before ?
After frozen Ball is though-ed out do you Ball then place back in frig for 8 to 12 hours ?
then Take out and let sit for 2 hours or room temp ?
Then make Pie ?

Thanks

Lester7009,

Usually if I want to defrost a frozen dough ball I would place it in the refrigerator for about a day or maybe two days.  It should defrost in that amount of time.  After the frozen dough ball is thawed out, you can just let it warm-up to room temperature for about 1 to 1 ½ hrs, then proceed to make a pizza.  The only way I think you would put it back into the fridge is if you want it to ferment more.  Freezing dough balls kills some of the yeast.  Some members don’t recommend to freeze dough balls more than 10 days to maybe 15 days.  If doughs are to be frozen sometimes more yeast might be added to compensate for freezing.  It all depends also if a dough is frozen in a freezer that defrosts (static freezer) or one that doesn’t defrost.  Different hydration doughs also might affect how a dough ball behaves after thawing.  Freezing stops all fermentation of dough.

I don’t think you want to ball your dough after it was frozen, because it probably would mess-up the gluten structure.

If you want to read more, Peter posted many times on the forum about freezing dough.  This is one post where at the end of the post Peter explains about frozen dough at Reply 72 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11654.msg112154.html#msg112154  You can also do a forum search to find more information.

Norma

[Lester7009]

Thank You Norma. I appreciate your help.

[Pete-zza]

I don’t think you want to ball your dough after it was frozen, because it probably would mess-up the gluten structure.

Norma,

I personally try not to reball a defrosted dough ball, but as you can see from Tom Lehmann's PMQ post at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?p=20525#p20525, he advocates doing so under certain circumstances. My recollection is that Tom dispenses the same advice to professionals who work with commercially produced frozen dough balls. In my opinion, what is key to the process is that there is sufficient time for the dough ball to recover from the reballing before using to make a pizza.

Peter

[norma427]

Norma,

I personally try not to reball a defrosted dough ball, but as you can see from Tom Lehmann's PMQ post at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?p=20525#p20525, he advocates doing so under certain circumstances. My recollection is that Tom dispenses the same advice to professionals who work with commercially produced frozen dough balls. In my opinion, what is key to the process is that there is sufficient time for the dough ball to recover from the reballing before using to make a pizza.

Peter

Peter,

Thanks for referencing that post from Tom Lehmann.  I never saw that a frozen dough ball can be thawed out, then removed from the bag and kneaded for a couple of minutes, shaped back into a dough ball, then the dough ball sits at room temperature for about 1 ½ hrs.  I always thought that method would form more gluten. I guess if someone is gently kneading the defrosted dough ball it doesn’t really matter.  I wonder about that because I never tried that method.  I will have to take a frozen dough ball and try Tom’s method.  I wonder how my 2 bulk fermented failed dough balls would act.  I also wonder if that just applies to a dough that goes into a pan or could it be applied to a frozen dough ball that is stretched out for a normal pizza.

I also wonder from Tom’s post at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?p=20525#p20597 if any of my samples of dough enhancers might work for freezing dough.

I have a few customers that buy my dough balls and then freeze them.  Some of my customers have frozen my dough balls and said they worked well after being frozen for over 3 weeks.

Norma

[Pete-zza]

Norma,

Many commercial dough balls have so much yeast in them that they start to go downhill quite fast after the second day of defrosting (see Tom Lehmann's Think Tank post at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6304&p=39970&hilit=#p39883). Some operators are able to get a third day out of their dough balls and, failing that, they may end up using the dough balls to make breadsticks and the like rather than throwing the dough balls away. I believe that the reballing that Tom talks about may help get an extra day out of the dough balls.

For more on how to handle frozen dough balls, see Tom's Think Tank post at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6621&p=42899&hilit=#p42899.

Peter

[Pete-zza]

I also wonder from Tom’s post at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?p=20525#p20597 if any of my samples of dough enhancers might work for freezing dough.

Norma,

I do not believe that I have seen the additives listed in the above post in any of your posts, with the possible exception of ascorbic acid, which is Vitamin C. Some of the listed additives are used as substitutes for potassium bromate. Some other additives used in frozen doughs can be seen in Tom's Think Tank post at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6304&p=39970&hilit=#p39883. I know you have L-cysteine but my recollection is that it is part of your PZ-44 product, not as a standalone product.

Peter

[norma427]

Norma,

I do not believe that I have seen the additives listed in the above post in any of your posts, with the possible exception of ascorbic acid, which is Vitamin C. Some of the listed additives are used as substitutes for potassium bromate. Some other additives used in frozen doughs can be seen in Tom's Think Tank post at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6304&p=39970&hilit=#p39883. I know you have L-cysteine but my recollection is that it is part of your PZ-44 product, not as a standalone product.

Peter

Peter,

Thanks for the links from PMQTT.  I don’t want to take this thread anymore off-topic but the frozen dough enhancer I was thinking about was Dough Freeze 2 that I had posted about at Reply 8 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13820.msg138841.html#msg138841  I might think about an experiment with that product on the my other thread.

Norma

[Lester7009]

Sunday I took 2 - 10 oz package of Neo-Neopolitan with poolish dough. It was
fazzari  posted recipe. When I made first dough I had some left over so I froze in 10 oz packages. I took out two packages placed in a large bowl of water. They were though-ed in 30 minutes so I ball each 10 oz dough, Placed each in a plate covered with plastic wrap for three hours room temp. I was surprised to find out that the pies were great. You could tell a little difference but you really had to try hard to tell the difference. I was pleased with results. 

[The Dough Doctor]

Lester;
There are two ways that I slack out frozen dough balls and get them ready to use for making pizza skins.
First, oil the dough ball and place it into a plastic bag (think bread bag), twist the open end to close and tuck under the dough ball as you place it into the fridge. Allow to thaw for 12 to 16-hours, then open and use for making your pizza skins.
A better method (I think) is to remove the slacked out dough ball from the fridge and set it at room temperature for about an hour, then place it back into the fridge for use on the following day. When removing the dough ball from the fridge to use, leave it in the plastic bag and allow it to set at room temperature for 1.5-hours, then turn the dough ball out into a bowl of dusting flour and open into a pizza skin. The second method described allows the dough to develop a little more fermentation flavor that the first method.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor