Practical Baking & Food Storing Tips: How to Store Dough

Did you know that you can store your left over dough for later use?

Think for a while, you’re hungry but you want to bake your own bread or pizza, but you don’t have enough time to make a dough, isn’t that so frustrating?

Indeed it is, for there are times that buying a piece of bread or ordering a pizza just doesn’t please your appetite. If you know how to bake, and you love making your own bread or pizza, then you need to have a dough for making one.

Need some tips? Here’s a very simple solution to that – store some dough for later use!

Dough can be stored on the freezer or on your refrigerator depending on how much longer you are going to use it. Refrigerating does not completely stop yeast activity, but it may only cause it to slow down. So the next time you prepare dough, try to make a bulk or a few more batches of it since you can just simply store the rest for later use. This way, you can have instant dough for your bread or pizza without having to start all over from scratch.

Preparing earlier batches of dough and storing it for later also helps save time. And the next time you feel the urge to bake something, all you have to do is just take a dough from the refrigerator and thaw it! Before you know it, you’re already kneading and shaping one for your dream bread or pizza crust.

To do this, here are a few simple steps to follow on how to store dough for a shorter or longer period while at the same time keeping it fresh:

Refrigerate.

Dough can be refrigerated only for use at a shorter period.

• To store dough for just a short time period, wrap dough in a plastic wrap or bag and place inside the refrigerator until its ready for later use.
• Never touch dough with wet hands when wrapping or storing. Water coming from your hands may easily cause molds on dough’s surface.
• Punch down the dough from time to time, about a few hours interval.  The dough will start to rise very slowly once it is cooled. 
• Doughs can be shaped and tightly covered in the refrigerator for several hours or even overnight.
• To thaw a chilled dough, simply remove it from the refrigerator, partially unwrap and let it rise at room temperature until soft.
• Thawing may take for up to 3 to 4 hours at room temperature, or may take a little longer until the dough completely defrosts.
• Knead, shape, and bake dough according to the direction on your recipe. 

Freeze.

Dough can be stored in the freezer for use at a longer period.

• To freeze, first you have to flatten dough on a flat surface or on a thin disk right after kneading.
• Next, make sure you remove all the air from the plastic wrapper or bag that you’re going to use right before putting in or wrapping your dough. This is particularly important as air trapped inside the wrapper or bag can cause the dough to get freezer burns.
• Place flattened dough inside an air-tight plastic bag and place it on the middle area of your freezer. The flat shape will make dough to chill faster and more evenly.
• In thawing, move dough from the freezer to the cooling compartment of your refrigerator while keeping it covered. Let it to rest overnight.
• Once defrosted, take dough from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature partially covered.
• Doughs kept in the freezer should be used for no longer than 2 months. Though it takes a little longer to thaw it compared to the ones that are only refrigerated before you can start kneading and shaping it again.

Enjoy baking!