Kitchen tip -- Freezing dough
One big time saver for me in the kitchen, while still providing fresh baked goods, has been to freeze yeast dough once it is made but before I bake it.
I do this for my cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, loaves of bread, and pizza crust. Because I use all or almost all whole wheat the frozen to risen time is longer than if you use just white flour, so adjust this tip according to your flour content.
To use the frozen dough, I then remove it from the freezer and put it in the greased pan I will cook it in. The pizza crust just needs to thaw, not rise, which takes about an hour or two on the counter (or you can put the whole pizza together before freezing and bake right from the freezer). The others need to thaw/rise on the counter for about 5-6 hours. If I am using it for breakfast I leave it on the counter overnight, or it can thaw in the fridge for up to a day or so.
Once it has risen to double in size it is ready to bake as usual. Fresh baked yeast bread without the mixing and kneading!
Some situations this has helped me in: Sunday dinner rolls (pull out of freezer before heading off to church -- my husband likes them crisp, not soft pull-apart, so I bake them in muffin tins); making that mid-week loaf of bread (just pull out of the freezer when I wake up and it is ready to bake for lunch), cinnamon rolls I make in a double batch (but still get fresh baked rolls from the freezer every other week).
(Some of my frozen 'dough' waiting for the hour of need.
Any time that I can prepare double (or more) at one time and still get fresh cooked food every time is ideal! My family members are not big left-overs eaters, unfortunately, so the closer to fresh made I get each meal, the more well received.
For more kitchen tips, check out Tammy's recipes!
I do this for my cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, loaves of bread, and pizza crust. Because I use all or almost all whole wheat the frozen to risen time is longer than if you use just white flour, so adjust this tip according to your flour content.
To use the frozen dough, I then remove it from the freezer and put it in the greased pan I will cook it in. The pizza crust just needs to thaw, not rise, which takes about an hour or two on the counter (or you can put the whole pizza together before freezing and bake right from the freezer). The others need to thaw/rise on the counter for about 5-6 hours. If I am using it for breakfast I leave it on the counter overnight, or it can thaw in the fridge for up to a day or so.
Once it has risen to double in size it is ready to bake as usual. Fresh baked yeast bread without the mixing and kneading!
Some situations this has helped me in: Sunday dinner rolls (pull out of freezer before heading off to church -- my husband likes them crisp, not soft pull-apart, so I bake them in muffin tins); making that mid-week loaf of bread (just pull out of the freezer when I wake up and it is ready to bake for lunch), cinnamon rolls I make in a double batch (but still get fresh baked rolls from the freezer every other week).
(Some of my frozen 'dough' waiting for the hour of need.Any time that I can prepare double (or more) at one time and still get fresh cooked food every time is ideal! My family members are not big left-overs eaters, unfortunately, so the closer to fresh made I get each meal, the more well received.
For more kitchen tips, check out Tammy's recipes!
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