# Saving homemade dough, advice?



## inchrisin (Feb 25, 2017)

A baker, I am not.  I'm hoping some of you can help.  I made a recipe for sandwich rolls the other day.  They came out amazing!  Here's a link:

Blog Post View - The Real Deal Cooking Channel

I only cook for myself and I knew that 10 rolls would be too many for me.  I took half the batch and placed the dough in a ziplock bag and placed that in the fridge.

Three days later, I tried to get my final proof.  After 6 hours, the remaining rolls did not proof and I baked them anyway.  I got some breadsticks out of the equation, but they weren't rolls.  Anyway, I'm wondering if I should do my final proof and stick these rolls in the freezer or if I should have just waited longer on the final proof before baking them?

Is there a difference between placing dough in the fridge or freezer, before or after a proof?

Additional info:  I know that my yeast was sluggish when I did this recipe.  Proofs took about 2x longer than in the video.  Maybe there's a way to make a slurry and rejuvenate my yeast for next time?


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## medtran49 (Feb 25, 2017)

Yeast is a  living organism and it dies sooner or later just like everything else does.  Once it's dead, it's dead.  I would have gone ahead and made the rolls, mostly baked them, and then froze them, basically made brown-n-serve rolls.


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## Andy M. (Feb 25, 2017)

I regularly freeze pizza dough after the first rise.  It takes a long time for the frozen dough to warm up and for the yeast to wake up.


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## Greg Who Cooks (Feb 25, 2017)

Andy M. said:


> I regularly freeze pizza dough after the first rise.  It takes a long time for the frozen dough to warm up and for the yeast to wake up.


This!

All my reading indicates that yeast will go dormant in freezing, so freeze the rolls, then take them out and just wait until they thaw, wait until they begin rising, and then cook when sufficiently risen.

I hear about pizza dough being frozen all the time. In fact I think they sell that at supermarkets frozen section.


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## Roll_Bones (Feb 25, 2017)

Greg Who Cooks said:


> This!
> 
> All my reading indicates that yeast will go dormant in freezing, so freeze the rolls, then take them out and just wait until they thaw, wait until they begin rising, and then cook when sufficiently risen.
> 
> I hear about pizza dough being frozen all the time. In fact I think they sell that at supermarkets frozen section.



They do.
I buy pizza dough at Publix and its frozen in many instances.
They have fresh dough as well.  I think they freeze the fresh dough when it does not sell the day they make it.
I prefer the frozen dough as it travels much better.  Thaws overnight.
Oh...Its great too!


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## inchrisin (Aug 22, 2017)

medtran49 said:


> Yeast is a  living organism and it dies sooner or later just like everything else does.  Once it's dead, it's dead.  I would have gone ahead and made the rolls, mostly baked them, and then froze them, basically made brown-n-serve rolls.



Thanks.  I'll try this next time.  I'm thinking if you get the rolls to fluff without browning them that most of the yeast would die off from the heat.  I'll thaw them without too much worry that they will rise on the counter, bake them the rest of the way, and enjoy!


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## BlueMoods (Aug 22, 2017)

You could have portioned the dough and then froze them on a baking sheet, then stored them in a zipper bag. Just thaw before using and, let them proof. I do this with all of the yeast doughs I make and, even store my dry yeast in the freezer since I buy it in bulk (5 lbs at a time.)

Yeast goes dormant (into suspended animation) in the freezer but, it doesn't die that way. Warm it up and, give it a little food (sugar) and, it's soon back to bubbling away for you.

3 days refrigerated should be okay, if there is a little sugar (hone, agave, etc okay too.) in your rolls. Without sugar, I suspect the yeast ran out of food while refrigerated. It works slowly, very slowly when refrigerated but, it still works so, still eats.


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## skilletlicker (Aug 22, 2017)

I haven't baked much in the last few years but three days in the fridge after the first rise seems pretty long to me. I would want to freeze asap. Then they should rise pretty quickly once up near room temperature.


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## Mad Cook (Aug 25, 2017)

medtran49 said:


> Yeast is a  living organism and it dies sooner or later just like everything else does.  Once it's dead, it's dead.  I would have gone ahead and made the rolls, mostly baked them, and then froze them, basically made brown-n-serve rolls.



I'm with this. I find it better to bake the bread and then freeze it as the rise is better, although I do freeze home-made pizza bases. I let them thaw them put the toppings on and bake.


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## tenspeed (Aug 25, 2017)

skilletlicker said:


> I haven't baked much in the last few years but three days in the fridge after the first rise seems pretty long to me.


The authors of "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day" recommend making a big enough batch of dough to last 7 to 10 days in the fridge, and then using a portion of it when you want to bake bread.  If I remember correctly they said it will keep refrigerated up to 14 days.  I've kept bread dough for a week on many occasions.


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## GotGarlic (Aug 25, 2017)

tenspeed said:


> The authors of "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day" recommend making a big enough batch of dough to last 7 to 10 days in the fridge, and then using a portion of it when you want to bake bread.  If I remember correctly they said it will keep refrigerated up to 14 days.  I've kept bread dough for a week on many occasions.


I use that method all the time and it works as they say. The longer it's in the fridge, the more complex the flavor gets, like sourdough.

https://artisanbreadinfive.com/2013...tes-a-day-is-launched-back-to-basics-updated/


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