Feb 21, 2011

Make Ahead Monday-Bread Dough to freeze

For an updated post with recipe go here

By request of my college friend Laralee I am posting about making and freezing bread dough today.  Sometimes it would be nice to have a fresh loaf of bread without having to go through the whole bread dough making process.  That is where freezing bread dough comes in handy.  Next time you make bread you could double your batch or take part of your single batch and form it into loaves and freeze it to use at a later date.  I looked in my Red Star Yeast Cookbook all about breads and it said the best time to freeze dough is after kneading, before the first rising.  There are two methods you could use: #1. Is to freeze the dough in a disc shape on a cookie sheet for one hour.  After it has hardened, wrap in plastic wrap and put in a ziplock bag.  It can be in the freezer for up to 4 weeks.  #2. Is to form the dough into the desired shape (like in a loaf pan or buns).  Freeze for 1 hour until hard, then cover with plastic wrap and put in a ziplock.  It can also store for 4 weeks. At this point the book says to thaw your dough in the refrigerator overnight.  I did that with mine and when I woke up in the morning I took it out to bring it to room temperature but it never rose.  I think I had it sitting out for 6 hours and there was no change.  I baked it to see what would happen and I ended up with two hard mounds of dough.  So the second time I tried this I took the dough out of the freezer the night before and set it out on the counter overnight.  We have a wood burning stove in our kitchen area so it was warm and when I woke up in the morning the dough was perfect-in fact it had risen a bit more than I liked so I punched it down, reshaped it and let it rise a second time.  Then I baked it as I normally do for my recipe and it was DELICIOUS.  It was actually the fluffiest bread I have made yet.  This is revolutionary for me.  Who doesn't love the smell/taste of fresh warm bread.  Normally I bake bread on Tuesdays and make about 4 loaves and freeze them (already baked).  They are fine that way-but what a treat it was to have fresh warm bread for breakfast.  This got me thinking, instead of prebaking my loaves I am now going to freeze part of the dough before I bake it giving me the option of fresh hot bread whenever I need.  You could totally have fresh bread for the evening too-just take the dough out in the morning and leave it during the day.  You need to make sure the room is warm or it won't work.  Here are some pictures:

Dough after shaping and before freezing.

Dough after freezing.
Failed first attempt with dough thawed in refrigerator.

Dough thawed and rising on counter overnight

SUCCESS!!!!



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18 comments:

  1. Thanks so much!!! I am so exited to try it.

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  2. I am planning to bake bread today! It's actually never occurred to me to freeze it... thanks for the tips!

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  3. Once my little one (5 weeks old) is a little older I will definitely be back to try this!! Thanks for posting!

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  4. I have made bread one time and have been wanting to try freezing some but wasn't sure at what stage in the process to do it. i love freezer ideas! thanks.

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  5. I love your make-ahead ideas! Now I just need a bigger freezer. :)

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  6. I need a bigger freezer too. There is so much more I could do if I had one.

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  7. would love to have the bread recipe...

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  8. Thanks for the freezing tip. I tried it. I have a question. When thawing, do you leave it in the bag or put it frozen into your bread pan?

    Also, I would LOVE your bread recipe. The one I tried is great for making sandwiches, but doesn't really taste that great for eating it all by itself (which I think is the best part).

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  9. I thaw the bread dough in the pans for sure. Make sure you spray them with cooking spray first. I will e-mail you my bread recipe.

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  10. Great idea! I'd love the recipe too! :)

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  11. I would also like the recipe. This bread looks great, and I'd love to be able to do it ahead.

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  12. I would love the recipe too! Could you please send it to me.

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  13. I'm like many, can you send or post the recipe please?!? Thanks! :-)

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  14. Hello, I just found your website on Pinterest. I would love to try this. May I please get your bread recipe as well? Thank you very much!!

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  15. Did you post the bread recipe or just e-mail it to everyone? Would love to try your recipe. Have been wanting to freeze bread dough, just wondering how similar it is to the breads that I make.

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    Replies
    1. Here is the link with a revisited post and recipe. I thought I had added a link in this original post but see that I didn't so I will add that now too.
      http://smallfryandco.blogspot.com/2013/01/make-ahead-monday-freezer-bread.html

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  16. I'm confused about what to do after you take it out of the freezer? You take it out over night but then you have to punch it down and reshape it? Then let it rise again? Is this correct?

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    Replies
    1. No, just take it out and let it rise overnight until it has almost doubled in size. If you leave it too long and it is really huge (like it rose too much) then you can punch it down and let it rise again. Otherwise just bake it as you would normal bread dough.

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