Can You Freeze Pizza Dough?

4 minutes

You can’t beat fresh pizza, baked at home, covered in cheese and your favourite toppings. Unfortunately, making the dough can be a bit of a hassle every single time you want pizza. So, is it possible to freeze pizza dough?

How To Freeze Pizza Dough

Freezing pizza dough is surprisingly simple. So, in no time at all, you can have prepared pizza dough, portioned and ready to grab out of the freezer any time you fancy a homemade pizza – yum!

To freeze your leftover or bulk-made pizza dough, follow these instructions.

1. Prepare Dough
   Prepare your pizza dough to your liking using the flour type and ingredients you prefer. Do this according to your favourite recipe – if you don’t have a favourite recipe, try this one from Jamie Oliver.
2. Rise Once
   Let your pizza dough rise as you normally would if you were planning on cooking it right away.
3. Cut and Roll
   Cut the dough into portion sizes. Each dough should be about enough to make one pizza. Roll the portioned dough into balls and then coat them with a light amount of olive oil or your favourite baking oil.
4. Bag Up
   Pop each portion of pizza dough into a separate freezer bag and seal it tightly, ensuring you squeeze out all the air first.
5. Label
   Label the bags so you know the contents, and make sure you add the date so you know when to use the pizza dough.
6. Bag Up Again
   To make life a little easier you can grab a larger freezer bag and add all the individual bags containing pizza dough into it. This will help keep all of your pizza dough in one place so you can find it quickly and easily.

It really is that simple, and this process should work for any pizza and flour type you prefer to use.

How Long Can You Freeze Pizza Dough?

Pizza dough keeps for quite a long time in the freezer as long as the bags are airtight and kept in the freezer at an even temperature. You should be able to keep pizza dough frozen for up to three months.

This makes it well worth the effort to make up a big batch of pizza dough so that you have enough to last a few months. Perfect for a quick and comforting meal in the evening.

How Do You Defrost Pizza Dough?

Defrosting pizza dough is super easy and hassle-free, the only issue to really worry about is the length of time it takes. When it comes to thawing out the dough, there are no quick fixes or speedy defrosting methods.

You need to allow the pizza dough to thaw slowly and thoroughly by doing the following:

1. Place on Plate
   Grab a portion of pizza dough out of the freezer and place it on a plate. Make sure you keep it inside the freezer bag to keep it protected.
2. Place in the Fridge
   Pop the whole plate and bag into the fridge and allow it to thaw slowly.
3. Wait 12hrs
   You want to allow it to defrost completely overnight or for at least 12 hours before using it.

When it comes to using your pizza dough, you need to take it out of the fridge once it has completely defrosted and pop it on the kitchen side for about half an hour to allow it to warm up to room temperature.

Then you can prepare and cook your pizza as normal.

Can You Refreeze Pizza Dough?

Raw pizza dough should only be frozen once, so no, it isn’t recommended to refreeze pizza dough once it has been defrosted.

This is why it is so important to freeze it in handy portion sized bags! You only defrost the amount you need.

If you have defrosted the pizza dough and now don’t need it, then it is worth cooking it anyway because even though you shouldn’t refreeze the raw dough, you should be fine to freeze any cooked pizza you have made from it.

Does Pizza Dough Freeze Well?

Traditionally made pizza dough does freeze fairly well, and once your pizza has been baked, you shouldn’t notice much difference at all between dough that has been frozen and used freshly. This is what makes this such a good idea!

You can have freshly cooked, homemade pizza, delicious and hot, without the hassle of making the dough every time.

There may be a slight texture change in the dough itself, and if your dough is a little soggier than you like, you might need to pat a little extra flour onto it before cooking it.

It is important to use the pizza dough before three months to have less chance of it turning bad. If you aren’t sure if your pizza dough is okay or not to use, take a quick look at it.

The dough should be a creamy beige colour and be as moist as you would expect the dough to be, so if your pizza dough has changed colour or is a little dry and crusty, then it is best to throw it away.