Tonight's pie...with frozen dough ball

[Chaze215]

I was curious how the pizza would taste using a frozen dough ball. And I was pleasantly surprised!   I took the ball out this am before I left for work and stayed out on the counter all day on a covered plate. The pie was baked in a 550 oven preheated for 30 minutes for 7 minutes. I had some fresh rosemary leftover from the weekend which I sprinkled on top prior to baking which gave it a nice flavor. Thanks for looking!

Chaz

[Chicago Bob]

Looks great Chaz. Was this a dough ball that you made or a store bought one? As you may know....Norma and Peter have posted good results using both. I believe for awhile they were even working/enginering one that Norma found to be quite good...I think the brand was "Pepe's".
Bob

[Pete-zza]

Chaz,

That is a very good looking pizza. I think the key to using frozen dough balls is to not freeze them too long. According to an article that Norma found at http://www.pmqmag-digital.com/pmqmag/201209#pg16, the recommended freeze period is about two to four weeks. When Norma and I worked on Mellow Mushroom clones, which entailed making frozen dough balls such as Mellow Mushroom uses in its stores around the country, the doughs were made and frozen for varying time periods within the above window. No one would have been able to tell from the finished pizzas that they were made from frozen dough balls.

I thought that I too had made a NY style pizza using a frozen dough ball so I did a search to find it. It is at Reply 830 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,576.msg96046.html#msg96046. In that case, the dough ball had been frozen for about 17 1/2 days after having been cold fermented for about three days.

Peter

[norma427]

Chaz,

I also agree that your pizza from a frozen dough ball looks very tasty.  Nice experiment. 

I also freeze leftover dough balls from market and they are always good until the next week.  I also sell some leftover dough balls from market to one guy from market.  He always says they make good pizza in his home oven and also good Stromboli's.

Norma

[Chaze215]

Looks great Chaz. Was this a dough ball that you made or a store bought one?
Bob

I made this dough ball a week ago. Bulk rise at room temp for about 4 hours and then overnight in the fridge.

Pete: Thanks for those links! I will have to read through them. I was surprised at how good it still tasted after a week in the freezer. Looks like I will be eating more pizza than I already do and my waist will be expanded 

[mvd]

Chaz,

Looks great! I've been experimenting with freezing dough myself since I make pizza just about every weekend. Since it's just for me, that means I either have to make a really small batch, or make a batch that I can freeze some of. Lately I've been making enough for two weeks, so they only stick around in the freezer for at most two weeks (from time to time I'll take a weekend off from pizza!). Results have been pretty good.

By the way, the addition of fresh rosemary sounds great. My parents have tons of it at home. I'll have to get my dad to try it!

[Boatman2]

Chaz I have been doing the same thing as you. For me I have found if I S\F and reball before I set it on the counter at RT I get a better working dough and more rise on the rim. Your pizzas look great!

Bob

[Chaze215]

Thanks for that tip Boatman, I will have to try that next time.

mvd: I think you will be pleasantly surprised (as I was) at the hint of rosemary. I put the fresh rosemary in a spice grinder to get it very fine.

[Giggliato]

The conventional thinking is a stepwise temperature increase from frozen, meaning about 24 hours in the fridge and then a few hours at room temp, with perhaps a short time at a higher temp.