SC - Freezing bread dough, was Healthy cooking

[Decker, Terry D.]

The problem of freezing bread dough came up almost 2 years ago.  Here is my
post on the subject.  Bear


I've frozen bread dough for use at a feast (1st Ansteorra-Calontir
Interkingdom if I remember correctly) because the size of the feast
would outstrip my capacity to produce it fresh.

To prepare the dough for freezing, allow the first rise, punch down the
dough, knead it, and shape the loaf.  Wrap the loaf in wax paper and
seal it into foil or plastic bags.  Freeze.

To bake:  Unwrap the dough, place it in greased tins or on a greased
baking sheet at room temperature.  Allow to thaw and rise.  Bake as per
instructions.

Caveats:

I used 1 teaspoon of yeast per pound of flour on a standard bread recipe
to ensure a good rise after thawing.  

Be sure the dough is nice and elastic and not too sticky after the
second kneading, else it may stick to the wrapper.

Be wary of self defrosting freezers and extended storage.  Bread dough
which comes above freezing will start to rise slowly and may damage your
packaging.  If your freezer fails, get the bread dough out and baked, to
save yourself from an interesting result.

Since you're going to be experimenting, try this.  Freeze one loaf, bake
one loaf.  Cool the baked loaf on a rack, then wrap it air-tight in a
plastic freezer bag or foil and tape.  Freeze it.

When you are ready to test, thaw the baked loaf completely at room
temperature, wrap it in foil and heat it for about 20 minutes at 350
degrees F.
Bake the frozen dough.  Compare the taste and textures.

I'd make four loaves at a time, use a quarter of the dough for the thaw,
knead, rise and bake method, and bake the fourth to save me from
gobbling up the experiment.

Bon Chance

Bear


>----------
>From: 	Tara Sersen[SMTP:ladycharissa at geocities.com]
>Sent: 	Sunday, January 18, 1998 12:45 AM
>To: 	sca cooks
>Subject: 	SC - Breads
>
>Hello, all!
>
>Today a friend and I were discussing making bread for feasts, and were
>trying to figure out how to freeze dough so we can do all the hard work
>way in advance.  I remember reading about doing this a long time ago,
>but I don't trust my memory.  I seem to recall that you let it rest/rise
>the first time, punch it down, then freeze it.  Then it can be thawed,
>kneaded and raised the last time.  Has anyone tried this?  Does anyone
>know off hand of any recipies that freeze well like this?
>
>We were going to experiment with this over the next few months, so would
>ya'll like an update about it later?  We were going to make two loaves,
>freeze one and bake one, then bake the frozen one after a few weeks to
>compare it to the other.  So, it'll take us a while to have results!
>
>Thanks!
>
>Marjorie
>Mountain Confederation
>Fox Clan
>
>--
>Tara Sersen
> LrdRas at aol.com wrote:
> >snip
> 
> > At least at one of my feasts, you can be assured of getting good
> wholesome
> > food, prepared from scratch. That includes broth and any other
> ingredients.
> > You will never find bouillon cubes, broth bases, instant this or that,
> > pre-prepared anything.
> 
> I am afraid that I do tend to pre-prepare & freeze as much as possible
> prior to
> the feast because I have a severe back injury that means I am physically
> unable
> any longer to spend a lot of time cooking in one go.  It gives me the
> capacity to
> prepare a much greater variety of dishes than I would physically be able
> to (even
> given my injury) in one day.
> 
> I also find it easier to pre-prepare as much as possible so that I am not
> so
> reliant on the often poor cooking facilities of most of the halls that are
> available here . . . but THAT is not what I wanted to talk about!
> 
> > With the possible exception of certain spice blends
> > that I make in advance and frozen bread dough.
> 
> >snip
> Okay, question...
> I have never actually frozen bread dough as after making it I invariably
> cook the
> bread!  However, I am looking at making the dough for bread for my
> upcoming feast
> and so I was wondering if you could post the recipe you use.
> 
> Also, can you tell me when you freeze the dough (Eg. after all mixing,
> rising,
> kneading etc is done, part way thru the process so you must let it rise
> prior to
> baking, or do you partially cook it and then freeze).
> 
> Lastly, how long do you leave it to defrost prior to baking
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Lorix (who hasn't got time to have her own experiments in freezing bread
> dough)
> 
> 
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================