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Last Updated on October 11, 2020 by cmoarz
Everyone loves to eat pizza. Pizza has become a staple in everyone’s diet whether you’re eating at an Italian restaurant or taking it to go from Domino’s. Pizza is the best food to bring to parties or to buy when you’re having some friends over for a movie. There are even ways to make your own pizza from scratch at home or you can buy pizza dough from the grocery store. This article will go step by step and explain how to freeze pizza dough once you finish making your pizza and you have extra dough leftover.
Step 1:
Make sure your all your pizza dough has fully risen before you freeze the dough. If you freeze the pizza dough without letting the dough rise first, the dough will need to rise before it can be formed into a pizza crust. It would be a lot easier and convenient to make sure the dough has risen before freezing the dough.
Step 2:
Divide the pizza dough into portions so the next time you want pizza you know how much to thaw. If you don’t divide the pizza dough into portions before freezing, it can be very complicated to know how much to make. The dough will be frozen so it’ll be very difficult to divide the dough once the dough is frozen in the freezer.
Step 3:
Lightly coat each portion with olive oil or any kind of baking spray. Then turn the dough over so the dough is lightly coated with oil. This will help the dough not to stick while sitting in the freezer.
Step 4:
Put each portion into separate freezer bags and seal the bag. Make sure the freezer bag is sealed and it helps to squeeze out any air. You can also freeze the dough by wrapping the dough in two layers of plastic wrap.
Step 5:
Place the dough into the freezer. The pizza dough can be frozen for up to 3 months so don’t worry that the dough will spoil. It helps to use a marker to put dates on the bags so you can keep track of when the dough was made.
Step 6:
When you are ready to use your leftover pizza dough, make sure to keep the dough in its bag and put the dough into the fridge. It would help to thaw the pizza dough for at least 12 hours so it won’t be frozen when making your pizza.
Step 7: (How to use your dough)
When you are ready to make the pizza, you should put the pizza dough on the counter to let the dough warm up. You should keep it on the counter for about 30 minutes. This will help ensure that the dough isn’t frozen and is ready to be stretched out to make the pizza. Don’t leave the dough sitting on the counter for more than an hour. If you leave the dough sitting too long, the dough can start growing bacteria and might make you sick when eating the pizza. If you aren’t going to make the pizza yet, you can thaw the pizza dough on the counter for an hour then put the dough back into the fridge until you are ready to make the pizza.
Other ways to store pizza dough
How to store pizza dough in fridge
Just as in the above freezing method, you should leave your dough rise first before storing it in the fridge. Divide it into balls, the sizing should be however big you want your pizza to be.
Wrap each ball tightly in plastic wrap, making sure its covered enough that no air can get in. If you hate plastic wrap because it never does or goes where you want it to, Give it the middle finger and put the dough in ziplock bags instead.
Just remember to squeeze out as much air as possible.
Stick it in the fridge! That’s it. Depending on the type of dough, it should last up to 2 weeks. Fermenting your pizza dough in the fridge is also a really good way to increase it’s texture and flavor.
Always let it come back to room temp before use.
F.A.Q
How to tell when pizza dough has gone bad
If pizza dough is cold-fermenting in the fridge it’s very difficult to say when it has gone bad. The upper safe limit for cold storage of a yeasty dough is 30 days after which needs to be tossed.
However with that said, 10 days is the safe zone for consumption, after that it gets risky.
A few tips to see if your pizza dough has gone bad is smell and color. If the color is off, or the smell is stronger than normal, it might have gone bad.
If it becomes slimy, it’s definitely gone bad and you should throw it away.
Will pizza dough rise after being frozen?
Yes! Freezing doesn’t kill the yeast, it simply puts it into a very slow dormant state. When the yeast hybernates it stops consuming sugars and doing its thing.
Once it starts to warm up it will get right back to what it does best, Rise!
Tip: If you already let your dough rise before freezing, put a label on it so you don’t rise it again!
Will dough rise in the refrigerator
Yes, the dough will continue to rise in the refrigerator. The coldness will slow it down but not stop it completely. This is also called cold-fermenting and is what gives a lot of restaurant crusts that extra oomph.
Conclusion
Weather it be in the fridge, or frozen solid, Learning how to freeze pizza dough couldn’t be easier than it is now. There is no reason you need to slave in a kitchen every night if you plan on having homemade pizza anymore.
Now you can have fresh homemade dough ready to go in just 30 minutes of thawing. In fact, by the time the rest of your ingredients are prepped your ready to go!
Here’s our favorite pizza dough recipe made by our favorite youtube cook, Babish.
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