freezing dough

[tshands]

I am an absolute novice at pizza making but looks like I'm going to hanging around with you guys for awhile to learn from your vast knowledge. I'm was a chem major in college that went on to med school but that curriculum looks like a piece of cake compared to the science of pizza making. I'm almost afraid to get my new of Caputo flour out ; been looking at it for days...but today is the day to get out of neutral. Question: if I wanted to freeze some dough for future use and was using one of the prep methods that called for a 1 - 2 day period in the fridge , at what point do you freeze the dough in the process and how do you revive it at a later time? Thanks. BTW, I'm certain to ask some really dumb questions and I apologize in advance.

[Bill/SFNM]

This is the way I do it. After retarding in the refrigerator for a few days, I form the dough into individual balls; those that will be used today are then proofed at room temp for a few hours. The others are wrapped tightly and frozen immediately. The night before I wish to use those, I put them in the refrigerator. They are thawed by the next day and I remove them and allow to proof for a few hours as normal.

The quality of the final product of these frozen doughs can vary dending on the ingredients. I have some breads that are even better after freezing. The last time I tried this on a Caputo/Camaldoli dough, the taste was great but the pies didn't seem to rise as much. You'll have to play around.

Bill/SFNM

[Pete-zza]

tshands,

Welcome to the forum.

Bill/SFNM is one of the few members I am aware of who freezes a dough based on 00 flour, and he even does it with a naturally leavened dough. However, if you do a search on the forum you will see just about every possible way of freezing dough. Some will make their dough in the normal way and then immediately freeze it. Others will let the dough ferment, either at room temperature or in the refrigerator, and then freeze it. Often it is an afterthough when someone discovers that they have leftover dough that they cannot then use. So they just freeze it rather than throwing it away. When professionals make frozen pizza dough, they take special steps up front that are calculated to improve the finished frozen dough, as by increasing the amount of yeast to compensate for the damage done to yeast during freezing, and by using colder water. To give you an idea as to how this is typically done, you may want to take a look at Reply 272 at page 14 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,576.260.html. The frozen dough described there, as well as the defrosting techniques, is for a so-called Lehmann dough, which is a New York style. However, the principles are essentially the same. As a former chem major with a medical background, I am sure you will have little problem in understanding the basic principles involved.

Good luck.

Peter

[tshands]

Thanks fellas. I'll say one thing that seems to be a common thread thru my reading is that you are the most pleasant, helpful, and patient bunch I've seen. For one taking baby steps, it's greatly appreciated.