Homemade Freezer Friendly Pizza Dough + Tips on freezing Pizza Dough

Last weekend my husband was traveling for school and the weather outside was so dull and frigid that I just felt like hibernating under the blanket all day. But then, with an ever energetic 4-year old who wakes me every morning stating "Mama I hungry- can you please give me some breakfast", lazing around all day is simply out of question as my conscience pricks and I drag myself to the kitchen. My munchkin is not a big trouble at all as she is very understanding and I am so glad she likes cereal, because some days cooking up a fancy meal just seems like a lot of work 

Sleep deprivation and the drab weather was rapidly killing whatever mojo I had left but when I saw my Nikon D-5000 staring at me from the fireplace mantle I suddenly got an adrenaline boosting idea. Just what I needed to make myself cheerful and pumped up! I checked my draft blog folder and decided to go for the freezer friendly pizza dough.

To me food photography has turned into an obsession and that might be quite evident to you if you follow me on instagram, facebook or twitter. It was extremely strenuous to click the first picture as my husband was out of town but I wanted to capture the kneading process. I had to do a lot of running around but with the timer and tripod I was able to manage a decent shot. I was glad with the outcome


Here at the George's family we welcome pizza anytime of the day - breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or even as a snack - why not right? I often make pizza during the weekends as I prefer homemade dough but it used to be pretty time intensive until I realized that pizza dough could be frozen. Ever since, I have been freezing my dough and using them when needed. Fresh homemade pizza even on a weekday sounds good right? All you have to do is remember to transfer the dough from the freezer to the fridge the night before.

I have several batches of pizza dough in my freezer and will be posting some interesting Pizza recipes.

An article from Seriouseats explained to me how freezing the dough dint impact the dough at all and here are a few key points that explains the science behinds it:

• You can freeze a homemade dough at essentially any point in the process and it'll work just fine. In terms of the gluten structure and the interaction of flour and water, freezing has no ill-effects. 

• Yeast are perfectly happy to take a nap in the freezer because their activity is largely dependent on the temperature of the environment they are in. At higher temperatures, yeast becomes wildly active, reproducing like mad, and consuming sugars. But when you chill them, and their activity will get slower and slower until, when you finally freeze the dough, they utterly stop, becoming inert until you defrost them again.

Yields: 1 Extra Large Thick Crust Pizza

Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water (add a few tablespoons more if using flax seed meal)
1 Tsp - Salt
1 Tsp sugar
3 tablespoons oil
2 cups - Whole wheat flour
1 Cup - APF
1 Tablespoon - Flaxseed powder (optional)
Oil Spray

Directions

• Dissolve the yeast in 1 1/4 cups of warm water (105- 110 F). Add sugar and set it aside for 5 minutes or until slightly frothy
• Take a large bowl and add the salt, oil, flour, and flax seed meal and give it a stir.
• Add yeast-water mixture and the flour and knead and form a dough. If you have a food processor or stand mixer with dough hook, use it to knead the dough. It is much faster and less messy.  The dough should be slightly sticky.
• Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Smear some oil on the dough before proofing and cover the bowl with a wet towel to prevent the dough from drying out
• Keep it in a warm place and let it rise to double its size.
• Punch down the dough. Spray some oil on it and transfer it to a Ziploc bag. Be sure to squeeze out any air from the bag.
• Store it in the freezer.

Thawing process

• Transfer the frozen dough from freezer to the fridge and leave it overnight or for about 12 hours.
• Before making the pizza, allow the dough to rest on at room temperature for at least 1 hour before stretching out the pizza.

Notes and Tips

• If you don't like wheat flour pizza because of the taste or texture, you can substitute wheat flour with all propose flour
• Spray the food processor work bowl / stand mixer bowl with oil before you start kneading the dough for easier clean up
• Before touching the dough with your hands make sure to oil them. It is so much easier to work with the dough when your hands are oiled
• Make sure the proofing bowl is big enough to hold the dough which might double in size.If you use a small bowl for proofing the dough might rise and overflow or stick to the wet towel which is very messy
• If you are using flax seed meal use a couple of tablespoons of water extra.
• The dough should be good in the freezer for up to 2 months