Friday, April 16, 2010

Yes, Virginia, you can freeze pizza dough

A while ago I had a dream, part of which involved my baking bread.  I had seventeen (?!?) loaves rising and didn't know what to do with them.  So I decided to freeze them.  That was only one part of the dream, and the only part to stick with me.

Fast forward a few days, and I was making pizza dough.  I found a good recipe online (here), but it made enough for three 12-inch pizza crusts, way more than I wanted.  I divided the dough into four balls and froze three of them.  From what I read (also online here), the secret to freezing pizza dough is to make sure there is absolutely no air in the bag.  I did my best, and my best must have been okay, because I thawed one of those lumps of dough the other day, and it baked up just fine.

My pizza sauce consisted of canned diced tomatoes cooked with green, yellow, and red sweet peppers, onions, and fresh basil and oregano from my indoor herb patch.  For cheese, I used mozzarella, asiago, and Parmesan, the latter two grated with my cheese rasp from Lee Valley.  The first pizza I made was vegetarian, the second included pepperoni.  I can't wait to be able to use fresh vegetables from the garden.  Zucchini pizza anyone?

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