Baking pies, bread, puff pastries is always an event. And it always takes quite a long time. The kneading process alone, even using “quick” yeast, takes a good hour and a half. And while inexperienced cooks wonder whether it is possible to freeze, experienced cooks have long been operating on this principle.
If you really don’t have time or don’t want to spend it on traditional dough preparation, you can buy ready-made dough: frozen and packaged at a nearby supermarket. But if the culinary fire in your heart has not gone out, make it yourself - both for today’s pies and in reserve. In the freezer, the dough will “sleep” as long as needed, retaining all its properties, and after defrosting you will get an excellent fresh dough, as if it had just been kneaded.
Is it possible to equate home and industrial freezing technologies?
Those who are accustomed to using store-bought dough can confirm that the quality is exactly the same as that prepared at home. This means that doubts about whether it is possible to freeze yeast dough at home are automatically canceled.
Powerful refrigeration units and freezers are at the disposal of every modern housewife, so there should be no problems with creating “factory-made material for pies” at home.
The capacity of modern freezers is quite enough to quickly bring the dough to a state of deep freezing and store it for a long period - from several weeks to several months.
How to prepare dough for freezing
After fermentation and kneading, let the dough rest a little, then divide it into pieces of the required size and put it in the freezer.
An important nuance: before freezing the yeast dough, be sure to wrap each of the lumps or foil. It is necessary to pack it in order to limit the access of moisture, since the process of crystallization of water during rapid freezing also occurs very quickly. As a result, this negatively affects the taste of the finished baked goods.
Correct temperature
In the first few days (7-14) of being in the cold, the dough should freeze - that is, completely get rid of moisture. For this purpose, the optimal temperature will be the lowest that your refrigerator is capable of. Yeast dough can be frozen at -20 ... -30 o C.
When the dough acquires a confident “stone” state, the mode can be changed slightly by moving the reserves into a chamber with a temperature of -8 ... -18 o C.
The role of yeast quality
Usually the question of whether it is possible to freeze yeast dough arises among those who are afraid of losing its ability to rise after a long stay in the cold.
Having “survived” the freezing-thawing process, it does not spoil; however, when choosing yeast for dough that you are preparing for future use, pay attention to its quality and freshness. Add more yeast than usual to the base prepared for freezing: instead of 5-7 grams, say, 8-12.
What kind of flour?
How to properly freeze yeast dough so as not to worry about the quality of future buns? Choose a type of flour that will withstand temperature changes and will not come apart during freezing.
Important! When choosing flour, you need to pay attention to the percentage of its gluten: weak after defrosting gives the undesirable effect of vagueness, high - excessive density of the crumb and a swollen crust.
The optimal percentage of gluten at which the baked goods will be soft and high is 30-32.
To make the dough elastic, add eggs and margarine to it during kneading.
Pizza dough
Frozen yeast pizza dough is the most convenient option for housewives who like to pamper their family with homemade baked goods, but are not ready to tinker with the dough every time.
Prepare as much of it as possible, divide it into portions - and use it from time to time, baking not only pizza, but also croissants or rich yeast cookies.
According to the proposed recipe, you will have to bother with the dough for a whole... half an hour.
Per liter of milk: 1.5 sachets of margarine, 3 eggs, 3 tbsp. l. sugar, a little salt, flour - as much as you need (usually 1-1.5 kg is required). Prepare the dough in the usual way: dissolve yeast in warm milk, add salt, sugar, a little flour - this is the first stage, dough.
The second stage is adding the remaining ingredients and the remaining amount of flour.
The third stage is packaging, packaging and placement in the freezer.
For puff pastries
The secret of puff pastry is rolling it out step by step with butter. But if several stages are too long a story for you, you can add yeast dissolved in water or milk to the flour, chopped with butter.
The peculiarity of puff pastry dough is that it cannot be kneaded and kneaded for too long - it may lose its puffiness.
Yeast puff pastry (frozen) is great for baking pies and strudels. If you are tired of regular puff pastries, but there are still a lot of preparations in the freezer - try it, it’s very tasty!
For strudel and croissants, roll out the dough thinner, and leave the pies to brown - cut the dough into pucks.
Storage, defrosting, baking
Having found out whether you can freeze yeast dough, you need to learn how to properly place it in the freezer. Even in the cold, it will not shrink in the first minutes, but will rise and grow in volume. This feature must be taken into account when filling the freezer: place the portions more closely, otherwise they will have time to “grow” and take up all the free space in the freezer.
The maximum frozen dough period is no more than four months. But the sooner you use it, the better the taste and appearance of the finished product.
Before freezing the yeast dough in (they can be used as an alternative to foil), sprinkle the container with flour to prevent the contents from sticking, and release the air from the bag.
You need to defrost the yeast dough carefully and gradually: first move it from the freezer to the refrigerator, and then hold it at the temperature. The finished dough should increase in volume. Having noticed this, knead it again and form buns.
Frozen dough is suitable for making any baked goods: pies, pies, pizza, buns, cookies, loaves, if you like. You just have to fuss a little once, and then very, very quickly (literally in 15 minutes, not counting the time spent on baking) prepare fragrant products several times.
Preparing dough is always long and difficult, especially if it is yeast. Leavening, settling, kneading, kneading, wrapping in warmth away from drafts - this process is too long to treat yourself to rich buns or pies every day. And I really want fresh baked goods! This raises the question: is it possible to freeze yeast dough? After all, it has its own specifics. We see frozen puff pastry being sold in stores. Yes, and to prepare it you need the help of a refrigerator. But in puff pastry and shortcrust pastry, the ingredients are milk, butter, eggs, flour, sugar and salt. And in our case, we are dealing with a living culture of yeast bacteria. How will they feel in a state of shock freezing? Will our dough change its properties after being in the refrigerator? Will the baked goods rise? Will it have the same taste as freshly prepared dough? We have to answer these questions in this article.
Something about bacteria
In order to answer the question of whether it is possible to freeze yeast dough, we first need to decide whether this will kill the yeast culture. It turns out that the simpler the organism, the more resilient it is. Bacteria, unlike humans, simply fall asleep in an unfavorable environment. That's why dry yeast exists. Once in a humid environment, these simple bacteria wake up and immediately begin the process of reproduction, causing the dough, and then the dough, to increase significantly. Yeast reacts to cold in the same way. They stop reproducing and go to sleep - until better times. It should also be taken into account that the vital activity of these bacteria depends on air. Therefore, when freezing yeast dough, you should completely cut off oxygen to it. Then, when the package is unwrapped, the bacteria will begin their activity even more actively. The dough will be saturated with air bubbles and increase in size right before your eyes. And the baked goods will become even tastier.
There are several ways to prepare the base for buns for future use. It happens that we were about to bake something, but we didn’t get the ratio of dough and filling right. What to do in this case? Where to put the remaining yeast dough? There are other situations. For example, we formed the products, but decided not to bake them yet (or not to cook the whole batch). And finally, the third situation. We, as experienced cooks, are going to bake pies today, buns tomorrow, and pizza the day after tomorrow. And we want things to go smoothly, not to bother with the batch every time. And here the question arises: is it possible to freeze yeast dough in one way, or does each individual case have its own nuances? We answer: there is a difference in cooling conditions, although not very significant. In any case, the dough should not be left in the freezer for more than three months. And it can only last two days in the refrigerator. The formed pies can also be stored. But do not forget that it is difficult to protect them from weathering.
Option: we initially prepare the dough for future use
Some housewives do not wonder whether it is possible to freeze yeast dough - they do this on purpose to make the baked goods more airy. What do we need to know when we are preparing the base for baked goods for future use? The fact that some bacteria in culture may not “survive the winter.” Therefore we will need more yeast. If you are cooking according to a recipe, you should do a simple arithmetic calculation. From the amount of yeast specified in the prescription, we calculate five to seven percent and sum the resulting number to the total mass. Preparing dough for future use also has its own specifics. If it is a pastry, prepare the dough. Then add the rest of the ingredients. In this case, it is better to use flour with a high gluten content. Let the dough rise a little. We don't need to knead it and knead it. As soon as the dough becomes homogeneous, prepare it for long-term storage.
Step by step instructions
You should know that defrosted dough cannot be put back into the refrigerator. It needs to either be baked or thrown away. Therefore, we immediately divide the dough prepared for future use into portions - so that each piece can be used at a time. Place them on napkins and stick them in the freezer. Let's wait until the dough becomes hard as a rock. Now let’s put the kneading dates on the napkins and put these portions in strong plastic bags. To secure the edges, we will tie them with an elastic band to prevent air from entering. Put the bags back in the freezer. The dates will help us determine when the product should be disposed of.
Option: we want to save already formed products
In this case, prepare the dough in the usual way. The only thing we need to change in the recipe is to use slow-acting yeast. A colony of bacteria that is rapidly developing will go through its life cycle and die out. And slow-acting yeast will continue to work after repeated kneading and settling. The cake pan should be greased with oil. Place the dough and filling there and wrap tightly in several layers of foil. Cover frozen yeast dough pies lying on a board with cling film. It wouldn’t hurt to sign when this homework was done. Let's put our products in the freezer. We have been using them for three months.
Option: we accidentally had leftover yeast dough
This case is the most difficult. After all, we could use both instant yeast and flour with low protein and gluten content. In addition, we went through all stages of working with the test. We let him rise, kneaded him, kneaded him, defended him. And then it turned out that a certain part of the test remained unused. How to save the product? Nothing could be simpler. Take plastic bags and lightly sprinkle the inside of them with flour. Divide the dough into portions and form into balls. We also roll them in flour and put each in its own bag. What is important: do not stuff the bags tightly. After all, the bacteria will not immediately realize that they are being frozen, and will continue to develop for some time. The risen dough may tear the bag. In this option we need a special temperature regime. Let's shock freeze the dough. Let's first set the camera to minimum. And then, when the dough in the bag turns into stone, you can increase the temperature to -15 degrees.
Proper defrosting
It is necessary to spare bacteria and call them out of sleep gradually. If we simply take a piece of dough out of the freezer and defrost it at room temperature (or using hot water or heating in the microwave), then the baked goods will not please us with their taste. Let's do it differently. The day before you are going to bake the product, transfer the piece in the bag from the freezer to the refrigerator without unwrapping it. Then you can take it out of the bag and open it at room temperature. The dough should rise and increase in volume even more. Then we crush it and form the products. Baking from frozen dough turns out very tasty and is in no way inferior in quality to the one for which the base was just made.
Pies
But what if we already have formed products? The rules for defrosting them differ radically from those described above. Recipes for frozen yeast dough suggest heating the oven thoroughly - up to two hundred degrees. We take out our products, unfold the foil or cling film and place the baking sheet with pies or buns directly into the oven. In this case, there is no need to defrost at all. It is also good to deep-fry such products.
Yeast dough is a tender and delicate product. Due to the content of unicellular organisms, fungal yeasts, it is saturated with carbon dioxide, acquires a porous structure and increases in volume. The semi-finished product is suitable for long-term storage, but only if the fermentation process is slowed down or suspended. Otherwise, it will turn sour and become unfit for consumption.
Depending on the required storage time, you can either freeze the yeast dough for several months or put it in the refrigerator for several days.
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Composition of dough suitable for freezing
To prevent homemade dough from spoiling after a long stay in the refrigerator, you need to select the right ingredients for its preparation:
- 1. Prefer slow-acting yeast to slow down the fermentation process. Dry active (but not instant) yeast is best.
- 2. The percentage of gluten in flour should be between 30-32. If the indicator is exceeded after a temperature difference, the crumb will become very hard; if the indicator is low, it will crumble in your hands.
When kneading, you need to add 6-7% more yeast than indicated in the recipe.
If you plan to use live yeast that has been in the refrigerator for some time, it is recommended to conduct a germination experiment. To do this, you need to cut off the outer layer of yeast and dilute it in warm water, adding a tablespoon of flour and a teaspoon of sugar. If foam appears on the surface, it means the yeast is suitable for use; if not, the dough will not rise.
Cold storage
Housewives who plan to bake pies in the next 1-2 days can do the following:
- 1. Knead the dough thoroughly, wait an hour until it increases slightly in volume.
- 2. Form the crumb into a ball and put it in a plastic bag.
- 3. Tie, but loosely, leaving a little space, since the semi-finished product may increase in volume due to fermentation.
- 4. Use a toothpick to pierce the bag in several places to ensure air flow. Otherwise, the product will quickly turn sour.
- 5. Place on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and store at a temperature of +2-4 degrees.
Instead of a plastic bag, you can take a bowl, place the dough in it, and cover with cling film on top. This way the product will retain its taste and fluffy texture in the next day or two.
Do not leave the dough in the refrigerator for more than 48 hours. Even at low temperatures above zero, the fermentation process does not stop, but only slows down, so on the third day the product will probably turn sour.
Deep freezing
For long-term storage, it is recommended to freeze yeast dough. If frozen, the product will be suitable for consumption within 3 months from the date of preparation. In order not to get confused about the timing, before putting the semi-finished product in the freezer, it is recommended to put a sticker on it with the date of manufacture.
You can freeze both the dough and finished pies. The storage method directly depends on the type of semi-finished product.
Pie dough
You can freeze yeast dough for pies as follows:
- 1. Divide it into small portions and form into a ball.
- 2. Sprinkle with flour and pack into bags. As an alternative container, you can use cling film by wrapping the dough in several layers.
- 3. Place on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for half an hour.
- 4. Set the temperature in the freezer to -25-30 degrees, transfer the dough from the refrigerator into it.
- 5. After all the moisture has been removed from the product and it is completely frozen, set the temperature to -18 degrees.
This temperature difference will help stop the fermentation process and freeze active microorganisms, preventing their proliferation. Instead of a bag, you can use plastic containers or freeze the dough directly in a bowl, covering it with cling film.
Pressed fresh yeast can also be stored in the same way. Just pack them in bags and put them in the freezer. The shelf life is the same as that of the finished dough.
After defrosting, the dough cannot be re-frozen, otherwise it will lose all its original qualities. That is why it is important to divide the product into the right size portions so that the entire mass is used up during cooking.
Puff pastry
Store-bought puff pastry lasts twice as long as homemade dough due to the preservatives and emulsifiers it contains.
Shelf life of store-bought yeast puff pastry test is 6 months , and home – 3 months . To prevent the dough from losing its layering, it is not recommended to knead it for a long time and knead it thoroughly. When the mass becomes homogeneous and stops sticking to your hands, it needs to be rolled out in a thin layer of approximately 1 cm. It is advisable to immediately lay parchment paper and roll it directly on it with a rolling pin.
The resulting layer should be wrapped in a tube, wrapped in cling film and placed in the freezer. You should not form rolls that are too large, so that later you will not have problems with excess that cannot be re-frozen. Optimal storage temperature: -18 degrees.
Homemade semi-finished products
If you have time and desire, you can immediately make pies or puff pastries with filling. At home, they can be easily preserved without compromising quality by placing them in the freezer. In addition, after defrosting, fluffy buns will cook 2 times faster.
The algorithm of actions is simple:
- 1. Preheat the oven to 180-200 degrees.
- 2. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil.
- 3. Arrange the finished pies and place in the oven.
- 4. As soon as they rise a little, take out the semi-finished products.
- 5. Wait until the baked goods have cooled, wrap each product in several layers of cling film.
- 6. Place in the freezer.
The shelf life is 2-3 months.
Defrosting features
So that the dough does not lose its taste, and the pies or pies turn out fluffy, it must be defrosted correctly. This must be done gradually so that the yeast slowly “comes to life” and the active fermentation process begins. To do this, you need to take the product out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. It is best to do this overnight so that the mass is completely defrosted the next morning.
When the crumb is soft but cool, remove it from the refrigerator and leave it on the counter at room temperature for a while. After such gradual defrosting, the dough will rise again and will be ready for further use. If raw semi-finished products have been frozen, they need to be defrosted, put in the oven and brought to readiness.
If you can’t wait that long, you can use the following express defrosting methods:
- 1. Place the bag of dough in a container of warm water. First check the container for holes. If any, place the product in an additional whole bag.
- 2. Place next to the switched on stove or lower into an empty pan near a burning burner. Turn the dough occasionally to defrost evenly. This method takes 4-5 hours depending on the size of the mass.
- 3. Place in the microwave. It is advisable to use the defrost function, if available. It is not recommended to reheat the dough by setting the timer and temperature, as it will begin to cook rather than rise. Experienced chefs claim that after defrosting in the microwave, baked goods are not as tasty.
Find out whether you can freeze, store yeast dough in the freezer or refrigerator, or bake pies in the microwave. Here you can read the advice of pastry chefs and learn how to properly store this product.
Answer:
Yeast, flour and water are the main components of this product. Many housewives have a question: is it possible to freeze yeast dough? The store usually sells it in this form, including for pies and donuts. But in this case, products with a high content of preservatives are used. But when prepared at home, for example, with milk and kefir, they are absent. And there are no contraindications to freezing. The main thing is not to thaw the dough, for example, in the microwave.
Is it possible to store yeast dough?
Is it possible to store yeast dough in the freezer? The question is quite simple. In this case, the product will be stored for several days. But in the refrigerator - for several days. Otherwise, the fermentation process may lead to souring of the dough. You can store a product without a refrigerator only if it will be used literally in the next 24 hours in the preparation of various dishes. In the freezer, the fermentation process does not stop at all, but only slows down. However, if you maintain a standard temperature of minus 18 degrees, the dough can retain its properties for 18 months.
Is it possible to bake pies in the microwave?
Housewives prepare many delicious dishes from yeast dough. True, many people wonder whether it is possible to bake pies with such a base in the microwave. Doing this is actually easy and simple, the main thing is to learn the basic rules. This process takes much less time than using a conventional oven. The dough becomes especially tender and juicy, and practically does not burn. The smaller the size of the baked goods, the less time it takes to prepare it. You can use the grill function to create a golden brown crust.
Any housewife loves to pamper her family with delicious and aromatic pastries. But sometimes when making yeast dough it happens that there is a surplus left or there is a need to prepare it for future use. What to do in this case? Experienced housewives advise freezing the dough.
By the way, not only dough, but also already formed products can be frozen. Frozen dough saves a lot of time and can be used at any convenient time. There is no need to worry that the dough will lose its properties and the baked goods will turn out tasteless - if you follow all the freezing rules, your buns and pies will be delicious!
If you decide to freeze the dough and don’t know how to do it, then you can use the advice of experienced housewives.
The process of freezing yeast dough:
- Immediately after kneading, the dough should be divided into portions and sent to the freezer.
- Pre-pack it in cling film, foil or a plastic bag to limit moisture penetration.
- Sprinkle the container for freezing with flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
- It is advisable to first set the temperature in the freezer to a minimum and bring the product to a state of deep freezing (usually -20° or -30°), and after the dough has frozen, gradually change it to -10°, -18°.
For convenience, some housewives freeze the yeast dough directly in the baking dish, after wrapping it tightly in aluminum foil.
You can freeze the dough for no more than 4 months, otherwise it will lose its properties. But in order for your dough to successfully “overwinter” and for the products made from it to turn out fluffy and appetizing, you need to take into account two important factors:
- quality of flour;
- amount of yeast.
The quality of flour plays a very important role for frozen dough: it is good to use flour that has a high level of protein or contains wheat gluten. If the dough has little gluten, then after defrosting it will become less extensible and will have a vague shape. And vice versa, if the flour is too saturated with gluten, then the finished products will have a fairly dense crumb and a swollen crust.
Another important component is yeast. If, when kneading the dough, you already know that you will freeze it, then you will need to add a little more yeast than usual. For example, instead of 6-7 g, add, say, 9 -11 g. When preparing dough for freezing, it is better to use slow-acting yeast, since in some cases low temperatures affect its properties. Ideally, the dough should rise for no more than an hour before freezing, otherwise there is a risk that the finished product will not be very fluffy.
An equally important stage is defrosting. You need to defrost the dough gradually. In order to save time, some housewives defrost yeast dough in warm water, after placing it in a plastic bag. Dough thawed this way will be ready in a few hours.
The process of defrosting yeast dough:
- First, you should remove it from the freezer and place it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, and then defrost it at room temperature.
- The dough should rise once completely thawed.
- Never start baking with dough that has just been taken out of the refrigerator: it must be brought to room temperature.
- As soon as you notice that it has come up, knead it once and feel free to form buns.
Some people advise using a microwave for quick defrosting, because now even the simplest oven has such a function. If there is no defrosting function, then you need to set the oven to 80-100 W. Just do it very carefully: even with slight overheating, the dough will begin to cook. By the way, experienced cooks do not welcome this method of defrosting: it is believed that the yeast may lose its properties.
In general, the best way to defrost is natural, that is, at room temperature. If all the rules are followed, then you can easily prepare any dish from frozen yeast dough.
Yeast dough cannot be re-frozen - its properties are completely lost.
There is an opinion that it is better to bake pizza or buns from frozen dough, but pies are not always successful. In fact, you can bake anything from frozen yeast dough that you can bake from regular dough: pies, buns, pizza. Moreover, many housewives freeze even finished products. Only when baking, frozen pies should be immediately placed in a hot oven without defrosting. And if the baking still fails, then it is possible that you did not select high-quality flour or yeast.
Experienced housewives share another secret: in order for frozen dough pies to turn out just as fluffy, you need to freeze it after the first kneading.
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