When to Freeze Bread Dough for Best Results

Question

Your article regarding freezing dough for later use was very timely for me. However, I got slightly confused.
When setting up the test, it says the three types of dough were tried both right after mixing and after the first rise. However, it wasn't clear to me whether there was a conclusion on that variable. The way it's written, it seems there was no difference which, if so, tells me that freezing it right after mixing makes the most sense.
Can someone clarify? Thank you!
Mitch
When Making Bread, Can You Freeze Dough in Advance?

Lynn Clark · Accepted Answer

Hi Mitchell - I understand your point - the article \is\ a bit confusing. What we found was that there wasn't a huge difference in texture and flavor between dough that was frozen without any rise vs. dough that was frozen after the first rise. However, there was a difference in practicality and time saving. For dinner rolls or pizza dough, it's best to allow the dough to rise, shape, and then freeze because it's faster to shape the dough while it's at room temperature then wait for a large quantity of dough to thaw and come to room temperature before shaping. Formed, frozen rolls will thaw and come to room temperature pretty quickly. On the other hand, for bread dough, it's not really practical to freeze unbaked dough regardless of whether you freeze it without a rise or after it's first rise. That's because it needs to thaw overnight in the fridge and then takes about 3 hours to come to room temperature. In that amount of time you could just make it from scratch the same day. So, yes, there's not a huge difference in quality between freezing before or after the first rise but, practically, it's best to freeze dinner rolls and pizza dough after the first rise. Hope this clears it up. Thanks, Lynn C.

When to Freeze Bread Dough for Best Results

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