Freezing Bread Dough (was Re: SC - Bread Soup Bowls)

[Decker, Terry D.]

> I don't know if there is some secret to it, like extra 
> yeast or something.  
> 
You normally increase the yeast for frozen doughs to get a reasonably quick
rise.  Most people don't have the time or patience to wait out a long rise.

> Probably it needs to get frozen faster than my 
> standard issue kitchen freezer can manage. 
> 
Self defrosting?  A normal refrigerator freezer tends to fluctuate between
freezing and non-freezing temperatures if it is self defrosting.  This isn't
good for dough.  Deep freezes work nicely (unless the power goes out).

> I agree wholeheartedly that bread has been a major let-down for at 
> feasts I've eaten. But then, I'm very picky about bread.  My 
> suggestions:
> 
I'm picky about my bread, too.  That's why quality bakegoods are a signature
of one of my feasts and why several cooks often ask me to handle the baking
for their feasts.  If you can pull it off, fresh bread is a fabulous
addition to the normal board.

> 1) find out what last weeks cook did to get bread from the Big Sky 
> Bakery in Raleigh.  That bread was a definate improvement over the 
> grocery store french bread we usually enjoy.  
> 
A good idea.  If the bakery closes on Sunday and they are overstocked on
Saturday, you can find bargains to use or freeze.
>  
> 3)(very small voice) I'm a baker, though never on quite such a scale as 
> Ymir will demand. I'm even a morning person, though less so when 
> sleeping in the high volume cabins at Camp Kanata. 
> 
For baking large quantities, you need to be a morning, noon, and night
person.  If you plan to bake fresh for 200+, be prepared to begin the minute
the site opens on Friday and work until Saturday afternoon.  Between the
baking and the cooking, scheduling the ovens is critical.  The equipment
must be reliable.

> It seems to me that baking for an event would require planning 
> everything else around it and keeping kitchen time/space needed by other 
> dishes to an absolut minimum. The night before and morning of the event 
> the kitchen would have to be committed to baking. The slicing, dicing 
> and mixing that usually takes place on site would HAVE to be done in 
> advance.  At Kanata, having the pig roaster for the meats would free up 
> all the ovens for baking.  Between the two convection ovens and the 
> other ovens, it could work.
> 
> Bonne
> 
It sounds like you have the start of a plan.  

Bon Chance

Bear
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