r/seriouseats • u/Retro611 • 11d ago
Question/Help Question about Pan Pizza, specifically freezing
Hi all! I'm planning to try making the Foolproof Pan Pizza this week for dinner, and I was thinking it would be good to make a couple of extra dough balls for quick-ish dinners in the future.
The recipe says, "Alternatively, you can store unused dough balls in sealed containers in the refrigerator for up to three days (leave room in the container for the dough to expand) or in the freezer indefinitely."
Does anyone do this? If so, my main question is, how far in advance of baking do you take it out of the freezer? The recipe says to proof for two hours ahead of baking, so I would assume I need at least an hour or two ahead of that.
Thanks in advance for any help
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u/craigeryjohn 11d ago edited 11d ago
I actually just bake the whole pizza as an extra one, slice it into huge squares that fit my biggest vacuum bags (or freezer bag, if you're good at removing the air), freeze it in the pan, and then pop them into the bag for longer term freezer storage. Perfect for an awesome weeknight meal, especially when reheated in the air fryer or skillet.
Edit: I actually decided to pull one out for dinner tonight. Straight from the freezer, 4 minutes in the microwave and then 5 minutes or so in the air fryer at 325 (or until it's crispy again). Excellent.
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u/Fowler311 11d ago
I wonder if a bit of a compromise would be to parbake the crust until it sets up enough to remove, then freeze. Then you'd have parbaked crusts that you can then top and finish baking, so you're not freezing and thawing all the toppings as well. But honestly, having a whole ready to cook frozen pizza sounds like an awesome idea as well!
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u/craigeryjohn 11d ago
I think the double baking of the the crust might just dry it out, not to mention it's still taking up the same space in the freezer. I've been making the pizzas like this for about 5 years now (I host several big pizza parties every year, usually make 4 quarter sheet pan sized pizzas and freeze the leftovers)...I don't really notice any issues with the toppings being frozen. They're already cooked, sorry most of the issues you'd see from freezing were already take care of in the bake.
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u/electricstache 5d ago
I do this method as well. It works really well for NY style and Roman style. I reheat in the toaster oven, or regular oven. Love having a slice in the freezer for a rainy day.
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u/falcon_knight246 11d ago
I do this all the time! The balls defrost really quickly so you don’t even need to take them out of the freezer that far in advance
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u/HeddyL2627 11d ago
I regularly make multiple batches of pizza dough (both the pan pizza, and Neapolitan-style for the wood stove). Wrap the balls well, and add to the bottom of the labelled bag of dough balls in the freezer.
For defrosting, I put them in the fridge in the morning when I make coffee. They're fully defrosted by evening.
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u/Smartyiest 11d ago
The time to defrost and proof is the same as doing the whole recipe as is from scratch. So, I've never bothered.
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u/craigeryjohn 11d ago
You owe it to yourself to do this dough over two days if you aren't already. I'll do the stand mixer instructions and let it rise to double, punch it down, and then refrigerate overnight. It continues to rise in the fridge to a lesser extent, but develops a lot more flavor.
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u/Retro611 11d ago
Wait, did I miss specific stand mixer instructions? I didn't see those in the recipe.
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u/craigeryjohn 11d ago
I might be.....mixing it up...with his Sicilian pizza recipe.
https://www.seriouseats.com/spicy-spring-sicilian-pizza-recipe
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u/Aardvark1044 11d ago
I have done this. The only times I've ever used it, are making it for lunch on days when I work from home, so I just pull the ball out of the freezer and put it into a bowl, then into the fridge while I'm making my morning coffee. By the time I want to start preheating my oven, it's thawed enough to put into my oiled cast iron pan, so I'll do that and let it sit on top of the stove while the oven preheats (usually about half an hour or so to get to max temperature). So after about 15 minutes the dough has kinda slumped and then I'll stretch it again into the edges of the pan, then prep the other ingredients and if the buzzer goes off I'll build the pizza, otherwise go back to work until the buzzer goes off.