Making a perfect pizza is an art. The trend of making pizza at home is very popular nowadays. There is a wide range of pizza tastes throughout the world. The dough style and taste, as well as the toppings, differ with every area and particularly every chef. There are a variety of options you can use to put over your pizza.
It seems like a good idea to store and keep your pizza preserved for a longer period of time and eat it when you want. You can freeze uncooked as well as cooked pizza. There are a few simple and easy ways to do it yourself. All you need to have is pizza trays, wrapping sheets, butter paper, a knife, wrapping foil, any cooking oil and a pair of scissors.
Freezing something having yeast in it seems to be a tricky option, but it is quite safe. It is often said that if you keep something having yeast in it for too long, it will develop fungi and bacterial diseases, but in the case of freezing something, it is not so. Freezing means that you are preserving something the way it is, and upon defrosting, you would get it in the same way as it was before.
Freezing An Uncooked Pizza
An uncooked pizza usually means a pizza dough only. There are a few options you can try; you can freeze a raw pizza dough, a semi-cooked pizza dough or a pizza dough with toppings and sauces. Here is a step-by-step guide on how you can do it easily.
Freezing A Raw Pizza Dough
You can freeze raw pizza dough. It is advisable because as the toppings and sauces are put over it and defrosted, all the materials lose their water, and you get a soggy pizza or a pizza with a hard crust. First of all, knead the pizza dough using some eggs, flour, oil and yeast dissolved in lukewarm water. Keep kneading the dough until all the flour in the bowl is combined in a single ball-shaped.
Then allow it to be fermented for about 4 to 5 hours. After that, make small portions of it and flatten the dough using a roller. Make equal circular flattened pieces of dough as many as you can. Then put some butter paper in the pizza tray and place the dough in it.
Sprinkle some dry flour on it and then put another layer of butter paper over it. Repeat the process in the same way and stack as many pieces of dough as you can, and then freeze. Whenever you require it, simply take it out of the freezer and allow it to defrost for almost half an hour. Then put on the toppings and savour your delicious pizza.
Freezing A Semi-Cooked Pizza Dough
You can also try freezing a semi-cooked pizza dough. Knead the dough in the same as mentioned and allow it to ferment for 4 to 5 hours. Then take a piece of dough and flatten it with the roller’s help in the shape of your pizza tray. Make sure that its thickness is equal in all directions.
Then grease your pizza tray with some cooking oil and gently place the pizza dough in it. Using a fork or knife, poke some holes in it. These holes will form air spaces for the dough to rise properly. Keep the dough in a preheated oven about 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes. Allow it to cool and then freeze after covering it with a wrapping sheet.
Freezing An Uncooked Pizza
You can also freeze a completely prepared pizza. It would save you time later on when you defrost it. But as you defrost, the components lose their water, and the pizza becomes soggy, so make sure that your pizza sauce does not have any water in it. Make a thick sauce.
Cover the pizza dough with the toppings of your choice. Add chicken or meat and mushrooms, vegetables and cheese on it. You can also sprinkle some parsley or oregano leaves on it. Cover the whole pizza tray with plastic wrap and then a foil over it and freeze.