Need help with pizza dough!! At what point can you freeze it?

C

cheezz

Well-known member
This is Peter Reinharts recipe for all-purpose pizza dough. I just made it and it is supposed to sit on the counter for 30 min then refrigerated overnight. Two hours before eating you divide the dough, form into balls, place on pan,cover with plastic wrap to proof. While it comes to room temp, you prepare the toppings. It says it makes 4 crusts, but no hint as to how large they are supposed to be.

Thanks...now that I've made my first successful focaccia, I'd like to move past this next hurdle smileys/smile.gif

 
I don't know about freezing...

but "divide into balls" and "makes 4 crusts"

I would say make 4 balls that turn into 4 crusts? or are you after a specific inch dimension?

 
I freeze it after it has risen once. In this case I would say freeze it at the point

where you would refrigerate it overnight. To defrost, put it back in the fridge and let it thaw overnight. Then continue with the recipe.

Pizza dough is really really forgiving. Easier than foccacia, so now this should be a piece of......

pizza.

 
Sandra, I just wondered how big they were expected to be...guess I'll find out smileys/smile.gif

 
I've been seriously disappointed with past attempts at pizza but DH will be distracted

with the football games, so I'll try it again smileys/smile.gif
I thought I would have to let it do a rise before freezing...wasn't sure. Thanks for the help!

 
Freeze it after it sat at room temp for 30 minutes, or after the overnight in the fridge. Both work

 
I freeze batches of Reinhart's dough all the time, and thaw 'em overnight in the fridge.

Works fine. smileys/smile.gif

 
p.s. A quarter of the recipe (1 ball) usually makes 1 fairly small pizza--enough for

light appetizers for 4, or a light dinner for 2.

 
Cheezz, I want to revise my suggestion--I think you should let it rise in the refrigerator overnight

and then freeze it, like Erin does. It will work either way but I think it best if it gets a full rise before freezing. Then all you have to do is thaw it and let it come to room temp before rolling out.

As for how big the pizza--it depends on how adept you become at rolling it out. My pizzas were always small and amoeba-shaped until I learned two tips: 1) Dont overwork the dough; it doesn't have to be as kneaded as bread dough because it is going to be stretched, and 2) keep the dough on the wet side. Dry, rubbery dough is impossible to work with.

Good luck! You'll get the hang of it.

 
Good points about the dough! I discovered last night

that, as long as the frozen-then-thawed ball is coated in enough oil, you can sort of massage it into a larger shape in the Ziploc bag (I use one bag per ball of dough, and then re-use 'em solely for dough), once it's at room temperature. Then I let it sit for another 10-15 minutes, then take it out of the bag and try to stretch it over the backs of my hands before transferring it to a sheet covered with cornmeal.

(In case any of that proves helpful.) smileys/smile.gif

ETA: We topped ours with pesto, fresh mozzarella, shitaake mushrooms, and Parmesan, last night. Tasty! But I usually try to give it a few minutes to rise without any toppings, first, before adding them--this dough doesn't do well if you pile the toppings on (at least, in my experience).

 
Well, I guess pizzas just aren't in my repertoire

I heated the pizza stone a full hour at 500 deg., slid the readied pizza onto it and baked 7 min. The top was a little overdone while the bottom was white. This is my 4th try using the pizza stone so I'm ditching it.

My other difficulty was stretching the dough - i just could do it without making holes. I did it as the recipe said, gently making a circle, then trying to work it on the back of my hands. It was too soft and made holes everywhere. I put it on a cookie sheet, trying to press it out but just couldn't do it without tearing. Is it the dough? It looks so easy when you watch it being done. On the plus side, the dough tasted really good.

 
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