I've been baking a lot of bread lately, and what I've been doing is making a
batch for 2 loaves, baking one, and putting the other half in the fridge
after the first rise. Depending on when I bake the second loaf, I either
bake it as is (it rises enough in the fridge to bake) or if it's been there
a few days, I punch it down, re-shape, let it rise, and bake it. That's been
working out fine.

But now I'm thinking it would be ideal if I could lop off enough dough to
make 2-4 rolls, and freeze them for later use. That way, if I just wanted a
few rolls, I could take them out of the freezer and make them, without
mixing up a whole batch of dough. Or I could make a whole variety of buns (I
tend to make different types of bread each time) from whatever I have
frozen.

I know it's possible to freeze dough, since they sell frozen bread dough,
but do they use "normal" yeast, or is mine going to freeze to death? How
would I go about this for the best result? Freeze after I punch it down and
form it? Let it rise a bit first? Freeze it right after I make it?

And what about baking? Thaw, don't thaw?

Any suggestions?

--
Donna

I freeze bread dough frequently. Normally I make dough requiring two
rises, and freeze the dough after the first rise and after shaping.
For loaves I simply put the dough in the pan, cover it (right on the
dough) with plastic wrap, and put it into the freezer. After it's
frozen you can pop it out of the pan and put it into a plastic bag, or
just leave it in the pan. When you're ready to bake, just put the
frozen dough on the counter, covered with the plastic wrap, and let it
thaw, which will take two to four hours. When thawed, remove the
plastic wrap and put it out for its second rising. I have never needed
to adjust any recipe, and have had consistently good results!


"D.Currie" > wrote in message >...
> I've been baking a lot of bread lately, and what I've been doing is making a
> batch for 2 loaves, baking one, and putting the other half in the fridge
> after the first rise. Depending on when I bake the second loaf, I either
> bake it as is (it rises enough in the fridge to bake) or if it's been there
> a few days, I punch it down, re-shape, let it rise, and bake it. That's been
> working out fine.
>
> But now I'm thinking it would be ideal if I could lop off enough dough to
> make 2-4 rolls, and freeze them for later use. That way, if I just wanted a
> few rolls, I could take them out of the freezer and make them, without
> mixing up a whole batch of dough. Or I could make a whole variety of buns (I
> tend to make different types of bread each time) from whatever I have
> frozen.
>
> I know it's possible to freeze dough, since they sell frozen bread dough,
> but do they use "normal" yeast, or is mine going to freeze to death? How
> would I go about this for the best result? Freeze after I punch it down and
> form it? Let it rise a bit first? Freeze it right after I make it?
>
> And what about baking? Thaw, don't thaw?
>
> Any suggestions?

Thanks!

I was hoping it would be that easy. I guess from now on my bread will be a
couple of buns short!

Donna

"Mary" > wrote in message
om...
> I freeze bread dough frequently. Normally I make dough requiring two
> rises, and freeze the dough after the first rise and after shaping.
> For loaves I simply put the dough in the pan, cover it (right on the
> dough) with plastic wrap, and put it into the freezer. After it's
> frozen you can pop it out of the pan and put it into a plastic bag, or
> just leave it in the pan. When you're ready to bake, just put the
> frozen dough on the counter, covered with the plastic wrap, and let it
> thaw, which will take two to four hours. When thawed, remove the
> plastic wrap and put it out for its second rising. I have never needed
> to adjust any recipe, and have had consistently good results!
>
>
> "D.Currie" > wrote in message
>...
> > I've been baking a lot of bread lately, and what I've been doing is
making a
> > batch for 2 loaves, baking one, and putting the other half in the fridge
> > after the first rise. Depending on when I bake the second loaf, I either
> > bake it as is (it rises enough in the fridge to bake) or if it's been
there
> > a few days, I punch it down, re-shape, let it rise, and bake it. That's
been
> > working out fine.
> >
> > But now I'm thinking it would be ideal if I could lop off enough dough
to
> > make 2-4 rolls, and freeze them for later use. That way, if I just
wanted a
> > few rolls, I could take them out of the freezer and make them, without
> > mixing up a whole batch of dough. Or I could make a whole variety of
buns (I
> > tend to make different types of bread each time) from whatever I have
> > frozen.
> >
> > I know it's possible to freeze dough, since they sell frozen bread
dough,
> > but do they use "normal" yeast, or is mine going to freeze to death? How
> > would I go about this for the best result? Freeze after I punch it down
and
> > form it? Let it rise a bit first? Freeze it right after I make it?
> >
> > And what about baking? Thaw, don't thaw?
> >
> > Any suggestions?

You could just make a bunch of rolls and put half in the fridge and half in
the freezer.
Everyday take one of each and bake them. This will tell you what
differences you can expect with the frozen dough.
Also try an experiment with the frozen dough---let one roll rise fully then
freeze, freeze the other before it rises then bake them together to compare.

You have nothing to lose, and a lot of knowledge to gain.
The ingredients are cheap and you'll have allot of fun.

Barb
"D.Currie" > wrote in message
...
> I've been baking a lot of bread lately, and what I've been doing is making
a
> batch for 2 loaves, baking one, and putting the other half in the fridge
> after the first rise. Depending on when I bake the second loaf, I either
> bake it as is (it rises enough in the fridge to bake) or if it's been
there
> a few days, I punch it down, re-shape, let it rise, and bake it. That's
been
> working out fine.
>
> But now I'm thinking it would be ideal if I could lop off enough dough to
> make 2-4 rolls, and freeze them for later use. That way, if I just wanted
a
> few rolls, I could take them out of the freezer and make them, without
> mixing up a whole batch of dough. Or I could make a whole variety of buns
(I
> tend to make different types of bread each time) from whatever I have
> frozen.
>
> I know it's possible to freeze dough, since they sell frozen bread dough,
> but do they use "normal" yeast, or is mine going to freeze to death? How
> would I go about this for the best result? Freeze after I punch it down
and
> form it? Let it rise a bit first? Freeze it right after I make it?
>
> And what about baking? Thaw, don't thaw?
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> --
> Donna
>
>