Freezing Dough??

[chuckster]

I just returned from New Jersey on Tuesday with my first 55lb bag of Caputo 00 flour (E&S Food, Elmwood Park). And I'm using the FB recipe.

My question is - when I get to the part that states "If you don't need your pizza balls for a few hours . . . ", can I put the balls in freezer bags and freeze them? How long will they last?

Question #2 - Isn't the 20 grams of salt in the recipe quite a bit? Maybe it just seems like it b/c I'm not used to working with weights.

Thanks - Chuck

[cvdukes]

Chuckster,
I generally make two types of dough... a yeasted one using the FB recipe and a sour dough. I've frozen both of them for use later, but have to say the yeasted one seems to hold up better. So far, the longest I used a frozen dough ball has been about 3 months.. I think I've read somewhere that up to 6 months is okay.

The 20 gr of salt works out okay. Really not enough to taste in the final dough. Part of the reason for the salt is to keep the yeast in control

[asudavew]

I prefer 10 grams of salt.

[gjbingham]

I think Reinhart says 30 days for freezing. Obviously, they will last longer as noted above.

[BrianShaw]

Originally Posted by asudavew

I prefer 10 grams of salt.

Me too... 20 grams seems like too much (that's about 4 teaspoons).

I freeze for several months - no problems.

[james]

On the freezing topic, you can put two dough balls in the refrigerator and make schiacciata or focaccia the next day. Works great.
James

[Dutchoven]

Originally Posted by james

On the freezing topic, you can put two dough balls in the refrigerator and make schiacciata or focaccia the next day. Works great.
James

I concur...we have frozen our dough with quite excellent results...I would suggest re-rounding the dough just prior to popping in the freezer bag...we also use one of the ziploc "vacuum" thingies to get all the air out..
Best
Dutch

[cookie_mom]

i've been hearing frozen doughs and grilling frozen pizzas..is it really effective and gives good result? i will try it myself..to see how it goes.. it sounds delicious anyway..

[70chevelle]

I've been using a dough recipe that rises in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Instead of scheduling pizza a couple days out, I've been making the dough, vacuum packing and freezing. The day before I pull the dough from the freezer, put it in an oiled, covered container, and let it rise in the fridge for at least 24 hours. I pull it out of the fridge about an hour and a half before I'm ready to cook. I find no difference between the frozen and "fresh" dough, but the longest I've had dough frozen has been about 2 weeks.

[chuckster]

Well, I didn't get a chance to freeze any dough. This past weekend was my first time using Caputo flour and we used it all up for pizzas! But, thanks for all the comments on freezing - I learned a lot, as usual.

Everyone loved the dough with the new flour and FB recipe. My son mentioned that it even looks like a professional pizza when cooking. I told him the only difference between a professional and me was I don't get paid

BTW: I only used 10 g of salt and it seemed to taste great.

One more question: Any problems using the FB recipe and doubling the quantities, instead of multiple batches?

Going off-line 'til next Saturday.

Chuck