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Frozen Bread Dough

© Pier Jones

Do you love homemade bread? At my house, it's a must. And although I keep my bread machine churning at a regular rate, there are times when I just want "real" bread-or our favorite basic daily bread-or a specially shaped loaf. For that, I like to have a few loaves of my own bread dough in the freezer. It's so easy to do, there's just no reason not to have some tucked away.

Just make up your favorite batch of bread dough. Let it rise once, punch down, wrap and freeze. I make such a mess making bread, that I like to make a half dozen loaves at a time and just clean up the mess once!

Here are a few "tricks" that I use when freezing dough:

• If you are making a regular loaf, use twice the normal amount of yeast to get a really good "rise" out of your loaf.
• If you are going to use the loaf to make a bread roll, just use the regular amount of yeast in the recipe.
• After you punch down the loaf, form it into loaves no more than 2 inches thick, so that it will thaw more uniformly. (Otherwise, part will thaw and start to rise while part of it is still frozen.)
• Double wrap it before freezing. I like to use first wax paper, then plastic wrap or freezer paper, and then I put it in freezer bags.
• Lightly grease (oil or butter) the paper or plastic wrap that touches the dough.
• Do not store the dough in the freezer for more than 2 months.
• If you are making a regular loaf with the bread, grease your bread pan, set the frozen dough in the pan, cover with a cloth, and let thaw and rise for about 3 or 4 hours at room temperature. Bake as usual.
• You can shape the loaf by letting it thaw as above, shape, then let rise until doubled. Bake as usual.

How do I most often use this dough? I let it thaw in a jelly roll pan, roll or press it out flat, and fill it with leftovers, or scrambled eggs (add cheese, hashbrowns, and some crumbled cooked bacon!). Fold the bread over the filling and seal the edges. Bake at 375 degrees until brown.

For more information of freezing dough, see:

http://www.foodsafety.org/nc/nc337.htm The how-to from the National Food Safety Database.

If you have questions, please post to the discussion area, or join our Preservers egroup at http://members.aol.com/preservers/group.... , where you will meet a lot of very helpful canners.....both experienced and not-so-experienced. And look for tasty recipes in which to use

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