Freezing Dough For Later Use

MAIN QUESTIONS HERE, EXPLANATION BELOW:

Does freezing yeasted dough kill yeast? Is there a time limit? How can you store dough for long term?

Best way to bring frozen dough back to temp fastest? Will the microwave kill the yeast? Has anyone tried sous vide frozen dough to quickly bring it back to room temp (say 80-100 degrees farenheight water)?

Recently I have been trying to make use of my freezer as much as possible. One way of which is trying to freeze doughs for later use. Right now I have only done one experiment, which was taking the bagel dough recipe and freezing it after the bulk ferment stage. The night of freezing I split it in half, portioned and shaped one half, and froze whole the other. That was on November 22, about a week ago. Last night/This morning I went to make the others, and they clearly had not risen properly. I took them out the night before and used the microwave to slowly bring the temperature back to normal, (which is a question I have). Portioned, Shaped and what I thought proofed, even going so far as to putting into a warm oven to proof for 20 minutes after the first 40 minutes they proved at room temp. They did not proof at all. I got minor oven spring after baking thanks to the residual air bubbles expanding, but clearly the yeast did not work.

Thanks in advance for any answers I receive.

Regards, David.

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brian_martin2001

Does freezing yeasted dough kill yeast?

Yeast is usually pretty forgiving in the freezer. I find you can freeze dough (bread yeasts, not sourdough) for some months and have no problems.

Is there a time limit?

I'm not sure, but you should be ok for a few months.

How can you store dough for long term?

Freezing.

Best way to bring frozen dough back to temp fastest?

Thaw in your refrigerator, or on the counter at room temperature overnight.

Will the microwave kill the yeast?

Most likely. Microwaves done have an adjustable thermostat. They excite water molecules, the friction causing the food to heat up. When you lower the power level, that doesn't decrease the amount of energy, that just intermittently shuts off the microwaves being generated, which will allow the food to warm now slowly. However, yeasts can be easily killed by these if they are in the path o microwaves.

Has anyone tried sous vide frozen dough to quickly bring it back to room temp (say 80-100 degrees farenheight water)?

I haven't. One potential problem i see with this would be the outer edge of dough starting to rise, creating gas, which will insulate the frozen core, which could hamper the overall thawing process. Again, no experience with it, but that's what would concern me.

Let us know the progress you make with this.

wolfiegirl

Yes, you can freeze yeasted doughs. The best way to thaw is to remove the dough a day in advance and let it thaw in the fridge. NO microwave please!! Once the dough has thawed, remove it from the fridge and let it come to room temperature. You can then either let it rise, shape, then let it rise one final time. OR you can let it come to room temperature then shape and then rise prior to the bake. I prefer two risings but it's up to you.

It's a bit different with laminated dough...puff or croissants for example... but for standard bread and roll dough, you should have pretty good success. However nothing is foolproof and freshly made doughs are the best.

#bread

david_culkowski_416895

I think I will try another experiment shortly. Create one bulk mix, ferment, portion into thirds, freeze all equally. I will do one at room temp for as long as need be, microwave (which as much as some may disagree with, when I used it to bring back my first batch it was incredibly effect and quick.) and try to find an able sous vide method. I will come back with the results in a few days.

wolfiegirl

I wish you luck with your experiments! While I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I have learned a few things these past few years baking various types of breads and dough. And that thing is respect for the yeast. It's a tiny little organism that does some really incredible heavy lifting but like any living thing, it has it's limits. As for hurrying dough along, I never do that. I let the yeast do it's work in it's own time. I don't use heat or ovens (and certainly not a microwave!) to get the yeast to giddyup and get the job done quickly. I think that's why so many people just don't bother to bake because they expect instant results. So all that being said, well, lets just say that when it comes to baking, for me it's not a race it's a food of love thing.

fisher23

When I make pizza dough I always make extra, portion it out and freeze. When I want pizza I just take it out in the morning and leave it on the counter to raise. Works fine. I wouldn't use a microwave to thaw it..in a zip lock in a bowl of cold water just until it isn't frozen maybe. It's best if you just let it do it's own thing and don't try to rush it.

david_culkowski_416895

Well, ladies and gentleman. I have some pretty great news to report. After freezing multiple even portions of bagel dough, today I set out to see how well I could revive the dough in as fast a time as possible. Short answer is, the microwave and sous vide are two completely viable options. Like most options they each have their roles, so we will start with sous vide. First off, and I do believe this is a critical part if you are going to be bringing it back to room temp with sous vide, is packaging. To package I wrap in plastic wrap and then in a ziplock bag, which could be replaced with a vacuum bag. The critical part is before wrapping in plastic wrap you must spray down all areas the plastic wrap will be touching the dough with an oil. This will prevent any sticking when unwrapping the dough after it is warm. I personally use canola oil spray, but you could very easily use a misto and olive oil, or pam, so on and so forth. Any nonstick barrier is essential. Back to the important part. Set the bath to 80 degrees fahrenheit, set a timer for two hours and walked away. Came back after about an hour and half to find the dough had almost no chill in it and was completely malleable. Keep in mind the dough ball was only a 500g ball, about the size of a large fist. However one way to freeze large amounts of dough is to flatten before packaging so the warmth doesn't have to slowly penetrate deep into it, and will come to temperature faster. After removing and portioning the bagels, they rose very quickly, (I proof in a cold oven with the oven light on to warm it up just slightly and it works fantastically). And boom in about 3 hours total, I had, from frozen, fully proofed bagels ready to be baked or refrigerated for the next morning. Which while I'm on the subject of flavor development, I think a great advantage of freezing yeasted doughs, is I find there is a lot of flavor development out of the freezer once warm, so things like pizza, bagel, and baguette dough can be baked same day.

Now the microwave. I will try to keep this short. Steps are as follows.

remove from packaging, coat in an oil, and place on microwave safe plate, uncovered.
microwave on the absolute lowest setting you have for anywhere from 3-8 minute increments. (typically I start with a long time to take the chill out and then continue to microwave until ready for next step)
once you feel it starting to be malleable, begin to push the inside you by trying to break it in half, and work to get the cold inside to be on the outside to continue microwaving.
coat new surface in oil and microwave and continue to mold to expose cold until comfortable with the temperature.

all together it only took me about 15-18 minutes total to have a room temperature dough ball. With this method though there is one caveat. That is that the proofing time needed is extended. Not by long, about another half hour ( for my particular event, your times may vary). But they do still proof properly. I highly recommend using your own proofing temp method as that will help cut down on the variables and help the yeast reproduce more rapidly. While not perfect, this method still provides completely proofed, ready to bake products in (for me) an hour and a half. Knowing this, you can have fresh baked bread for dinner or mornings in a matter of 2 hours or less depending on how you modify what I have found. Some purists may disagree with the method, but as with most science and discovery, having more tools and techniques in your arsenal will never hurt. I hope my findings have been helpful to anyone who happens across this.