How to Thaw Pizza Dough: 3 Ways to Defrost Pizza Dough

Pizza dough is a leavened wheat-based dough that forms the crust on pizza. To make homemade pizza, roll the dough flat and then cover it with pizza toppings—such as tomato sauce, veggies, meat, and mozzarella cheese—then bake it in a hot oven. Pizza dough is a type of bread dough—the yeast causes the dough to expand and gives pizza its signature air pockets.

Pizza dough freezes well. You can make a big batch of pizza dough and then freeze a portion of it to make pizza later. To freeze pizza dough, follow these steps:

1. 1. Prepare the pizza dough and let the dough rise. To complete the process of fermentation, allow the dough to ferment overnight in a large, airtight container or a bowl covered with plastic wrap. After the first rise is complete, mold your pizza dough into individual balls. Each ball of dough should match the serving size of the pizza you plan to make in the future, whether it be a personal pizza or an extra-large pie.
2. 2. Quickly prepare your pizza dough for the freezer. Avoid leaving the dough at room temperature for too long, as this can cause the outer layer to dry up. To prevent freezer burn, coat the dough evenly with oil. Place the balls of dough in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze for about three hours.
3. 3. Seal your pizza dough in a plastic bag. Remove the frozen dough balls from the baking sheet and place them into a plastic bag. Remove as much air as possible and seal the bag tightly. Proper storage helps you maintain fresh dough while minimizing freezer burn.
4. 4. Store pizza dough in the freezer for up to three months. Use frozen pizza dough within ninety days of freezing for the best results.

There are multiple ways to defrost pizza dough depending on how quickly you need to thaw the dough:

1. 1. Refrigerator: Take the frozen pizza dough ball out of the freezer and put it in a dry, covered bowl in the refrigerator to thaw overnight. The dough will rise a second time as the yeast activates and begins the fermentation process again, so make sure the bowl has enough room for expansion. The next day, place it on the countertop at room temperature for thirty minutes, so that it warms up enough to roll out.
2. 2. Cold-water bath: To defrost pizza dough more quickly, defrost the frozen dough in a cold-water bath. Keep the pizza dough in the freezer bag, and make sure there are no holes in the bag for water to leak in. Fill a large bowl with cool water and place the bag of pizza dough in it. The dough should fully defrost in one to two hours. (You can also use a bowl of warm water, but make sure it's not hot water, otherwise it will end up cooking the dough.) After that, let the dough sit on the countertop in a dry bowl, covered in plastic wrap, for thirty minutes to warm it up. Then roll out the dough.
3. 3. Microwave: The quickest way to defrost pizza dough is using the microwave method. Be very careful when defrosting pizza dough in the microwave because you will risk cooking the dough if you leave it in the microwave for too long. Take the dough out of the freezer bag, put it on a microwave-safe plate, and cover it with a bowl to protect it from direct heat. Using the defrost setting on the microwave, defrost the dough in thirty-second increments for two and a half minutes total. Then remove the dough from the microwave and let it sit in a dry bowl on the counter, covered, for another thirty minutes.

Whichever defrosting method you choose, the key in the thawing process is to make sure the dough stays cool throughout. If parts of the dough become too warm, the yeast in the dough will activate, proofing parts of the dough prematurely before the center of the dough has finished defrosting. This can result in an unevenly textured dough.

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