You can Freeze Bread Dough!

Have you ever found yourself stopping by a bakery for fresh bread or rolls to complement a special dinner?  You won't need to ever do this again, once you've learned to freeze your own bread and roll dough.  On a busy day, simple take the frozen shaped buns or loaves out of the freezer, let the dough rise and then bake.  Hot breads make a welcome addition to any meal, whether simple or elegant, and now you can make them part of your everyday routine.  You family and friends will praise you as the best cook in the world.

Shelf Life:  When baking with whole grains, remember that you have the whole kernel of wheat or wheat berry--nothing has been added or removed to give it a longer shelf life.  You are getting the best from the grain , but the flavour will not be retained and the baking will spoil more quickly, the longer that it sits.  A fresh loaf of homebaked whole grain bread is not going to last past 4 days sitting out, even in a plastic bag.  There are two solutions to this problem.  Either freeze the bread dough or freeze the baked bread.  This post will discuss freezing the dough.

Frozen Bread Dough:  Yeast dough for freezing is mixed using DOUBLE the yeast and sugar to get best results.  Shape your bread dough as directed by the recipe.  Place it on a baking sheet or in a bread pan.  Freeze immediately!  As soon as the dough is frozen solid, take it out of the pan and place it in a heavy plastic bag and seal.  You can also double-bag the dough to prevent freezer burn.  Use the dough within 8 weeks.

To use, lightly grease your bread pan with shortening.  Put the frozen dough into the pan, and cover it loosely with waxed paper (tea towels tend to stick to it).  Let the dough rise until double, generally about 4 to 6 hours at room temperature.  If your dough dries out while rising, mist it lightly with water from a spray bottle.

Quick Rise Method:  Transfer your frozen bread dough to a lightly greased baking pan as directed.  Preheat your over to 150 degrees F.  Turn the oven off.  Place the frozen dough in the oven, and put a pan of hot water on the rack immediately below the dough.  Let the dough rise from one to three hours.  Wehn the dough is light, remove the pan of water.  Turn the oven up to 375 degrees F. and bake 30 to 35 min.  If your dough is too light you can remove it from the pan and reshape it and let it rise again in the bread pans until double.

Frozen Rolls and Buns:  Rolls can be made from regular bread dough or any of the richer sweetdough recipes, shaped as desired and placed on a nonstick or lightly greased baking sheet.  Freeze immediately.  When frozen, cover with foil or a heavy plastic bag.  If your freezer has limited space, you can remove the rolls from the baking sheet once they are solid and seal in a heavy plastic bag.  Keep frozen until needed.

To use, position rolls close together, but not touching, on a lightly greased or non-stick baking sheet.  Cover loosely with waxed paper and let rise until very light and doubled in size, about 4 to 5 hours.  The time will vary according to your room temperature.  If the rolls or buns appear too dry on the top, you can mist them with water from a spray bottle, while they rise.  This will also make them crusty if done while baking as well.  Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F. for 18 to 20 minutes. 

Quick-Rise Method:  Transfer the frozen buns to a lightly greased or non-stick baking sheet.  Make certain that they don't touch so they have room to rise.  Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. and then TURN IT OFF!  Place the rolls in the oven and put a pan of hot water on the rack below.  Let rise until they are double in size.  You can mist the tops with water while they are rising to prevent them from drying out.  Once they have risen, remove the pan of water and leaving the buns in the oven, turn the oven up to 350 degrees F. and let bake 18 to 20 min.

We will talk about freezing the baked whole grain breads and rolls in our next post.