Pizza Dough Question

LeeMills

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Joined
10 May 2020
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9:11 PM
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5
Location
Manchester, UK
Hi all,

I have a quick question that I need help with. I moved frozen pizza dough into the fridge a few days ago and earlier today removed it and left it on the worktop to warm. It's in a sealed bad with little air in it. How do I prepare this for cooking pizza? I attempted yesterday but messed the dough up - I removed it from the bag, left it to air and then tried making pizza later on in the day, but it refused to stretch.

The dough hasn't had anything done it it - it's as it was bought. Do I remove it from the bag (it's not far off room temperature), leave it to air while covered, come back 1-2 hours later, then stretch and bake?

This is the first time I've made pizza and would like to continue making them as I need to learn more cooking.

Thanks for reading,

Lee.
 
I'm not familiar with the ready prepared pizza dough you are using. Can you tell me the make? It sounds as if you should have left it in the bag but I'm not sure. Usually with fresh pizza dough you stretch it out after its first rising and then bake.
 
Hi all,

I'm afraid I don't know the make - it was delivered by my workplace to get us through the lockdown, so I don't know where it's come. It's in an airtight bag and I froze it about 2 weeks ago. I took it out of the fridge the other day and today left it on the worktop. I can see that it's quite sticky and over the last couple of hours, it hasn't risen at all.

This is all I know. My work colleagues all cooked it and didn't have a problem. I'm too embarrassed to ask them as I'm the only one left who hasn't cooked it! So I thought I'd come on here for some help. Embarrassing I know...

Lee.
 
This is all I know. My work colleagues all cooked it and didn't have a problem. I'm too embarrassed to ask them as I'm the only one left who hasn't cooked it! So I thought I'd come on here for some help. Embarrassing I know...

Sorry! These are tough times and I am not helping. My guess is that you should defrost it in the bag and then remove it stretch it out.
 
Well, I can't say exactly, not knowing what you're working with, but generally speaking, frozen dough should be thawed overnight in the fridge, in the bag. When I make dough and freeze it, it goes in a freezer bag, and I thaw it in that bag.

When I'm ready for pizza, I'll set it out on the counter, still in the bag, and let it come to room temperature, more or less, and this can take up to two hours, so it's not going to be a 15-minute thing.

So, after an hour or so, I'll look at it and poke it a little just to see how it's feeling, so to speak, and I'll usually take it out of the bag, put it on a piece of parchment/baking paper, dust the top with a big pinch of flour, then throw a dish towel over it and let it go a while longer, may 20 minutes or so.

At that point, I'll try shaping and stretching it. Go small, you're not shooting for your max size yet, just get it into a six-inch disk. If it's cooperating, I'll keep going. If it's not, back under the towel, and I'll go off and do something else for 10 minutes.

I'll do this until the dough is where I want it. Conversely, I'll roll it with a pin instead of hand shaping. This will likely change the nature of the finished pizza, but that's ok. It'll just be thinner and not as puffy. Either is fine, just preference. If I'm rolling it, I'll do the same thing; check it, and if it's rolling out and holding its shape, I'll keep working with it, and if not, I'll just cover it and give it 10 minutes to relax. Keep in mind, you may need to go through this shape-rest-shape dance a few times.

That's about it.
 
I don't know about pre-made pizza dough, but I do freeze my own: when I make pizza dough I make enough for a few pizzas, leave it to rise until doubled in size, and then cut into portions and freeze each portion in it's own bag.

When I want to use it I either take it out of the freezer the day before and defrost in the fridge (in it's bag), or if I've forgotten to get it out the day before then I leave it to defrost on the worktop and put it in the fridge once its done. I usually try to remove it from the fridge an hour or so before I want to use it, but I always leave it sealed in the bag until I'm ready to roll it out (I find it easier to roll it out than stretch it).

I can see that it's quite sticky and over the last couple of hours, it hasn't risen at all.
This sounds pretty normal to me: my dough is usually fairly sticky after its defrosted and it doesn't rise very much (if at all) at this point.
 
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