Dough boxes that will fit in a residential fridge?

[sir_isaaclime]

I've been running a pizza pop-up business once a month as a hobby and I need a way to store lots of dough balls in a residential sized fridge. I need to be able to store ~50 balls in a fridge space that is approximately 25 inches wide, 25 inches tall, and 19 inches deep. The ideal dough box size for me would be 23 x 18 x 3 inches, but this doesn't seem to exist anywhere I can find. I could work with something that is plus or minus an inch in any dimension. It seems the standard dough box size is 26 x 18 x 3 which is frustratingly 1 inch too big to fit in most residential fridges. Any recommendations for boxes that fit my criteria would be much appreciated!

[Timpanogos Slim]

Your best bet might be to make them out of wood yourself, or find a cabinet maker willing to do it.

or buy twice as many of these boxes, and have two offset stacks - https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=134239&catid=852&clickid=popcorn

[Spag]

I do similar. Bag your dough balls in sandwich baggies (not zip-lock style) up and put them on sheet trays on shelves. The late Tom Lehmann has many posts about this method.

[Globalksp]

Your best bet might be to make them out of wood yourself, or find a cabinet maker willing to do it.

or buy twice as many of these boxes, and have two offset stacks - https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=134239&catid=852&clickid=popcorn

Came here to suggest these dough boxes. I've been using them in a counter depth fridge for two months and they do fine (for me). I ordered the kit on Amazon (because impatience): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00449IEM4/?tag=pmak-20

[stevenfstein]

Came here to suggest these dough boxes. I've been using them in a counter depth fridge for two months and they do fine (for me). I ordered the kit on Amazon (because impatience): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00449IEM4/?tag=pmak-20

I use these as well but just a single box with cover. I find they do a great job but when I take it out of the fridge to get the dough to room temp I get a lot of condensation dripping down from the top. Have you solved this? I have been taking the cover off and inverting it and that seems to help.

Best... Steve

[Globalksp]

I use these as well but just a single box with cover. I find they do a great job but when I take it out of the fridge to get the dough to room temp I get a lot of condensation dripping down from the top. Have you solved this? I have been taking the cover off and inverting it and that seems to help.

Best... Steve

I get this issue as well along with the top of the dough ball slightly hardening over. Not quite sure what’s causing this considering they do appear to be relatively air tight. Haven’t found a solution yet.

[foreplease]

I use these as well but just a single box with cover. I find they do a great job but when I take it out of the fridge to get the dough to room temp I get a lot of condensation dripping down from the top. Have you solved this? I have been taking the cover off and inverting it and that seems to help.

Best... Steve

You may be able to prevent or reduce this on the front end of your CF time by following advice The Dough Doctor often repeated. For the first ~2 hrs in the fridge, leave the lids ajar akin to something like 10-20% uncovered, until the internal temperature of the dough balls reduces significantly from room temperature. I believe he said “to below 50°“ but am not certain. I use this method with individually contained dough balls for 2 hours and have seen a big improvement with no skinning over. For commercial applications he referred to this as cross-stacking followed by down-stacking IIRC.

[Globalksp]

You may be able to prevent or reduce this on the front end of your CF time by following advice The Dough Doctor often repeated. For the first ~2 hrs in the fridge, leave the lids ajar akin to something like 10-20% uncovered, until the internal temperature of the dough balls reduces significantly from room temperature. I believe he said “to below 50°“ but am not certain. I use this method with individually contained dough balls for 2 hours and have seen a big improvement with no skinning over. For commercial applications he referred to this as cross-stacking followed by down-stacking IIRC.

Thanks for reminding me of this. I remember reading the DD’s thread about this well before I had dough boxes and it slipped my memory. Will be trying this out with the next batch.

[jsobolew]

I've been using the doughmate boxes for years with good results. Good quality and the dough comes out pretty easily without the need for oiling. I have a larger residential fridge with the shelves removed and I can fit about 14 of these in there. I cross-stack them for the first 30-60 mins.

[Andrew t]

I use the bagged on half sheet trays with lids. works great. Have the dough mates, for economy sake the hafl sheet trays work just as well.

Andrew