Pizza FAQ: Can You Freeze Pizza Dough?

At least once during every cooking class I teach, someone asks the question, "Can you freeze pizza dough?" In short, the answer is yes. Read on for my thoughts on the matter, plus step-by-step instructions for the best results.

Super Man can fly and shoot lasers out of his eyes. Wonder Woman can lasso people into telling the truth. I can make pizza from scratch any day of the week. It took me a while to understand just how useful it is to freeze pizza dough ahead of time (toddler mom brain might have had something to do with that), but now that I figured it out, I am super pumped to share that knowledge with you. When you have homemade pizza dough stock-piled in your freezer, you can be a dinnertime superhero on even the busiest weeknights! Here are my instructions for freezing and defrosting pizza dough, plus a video (because I'm just that excited).

Step 1: Make the Dough

Freezing Pizza Dough, thawing dough — Mix the dough and let it rise as directed in the dough recipe. For freezing, I like to use my 1-Hour Pizza Dough recipe, since its initial rise time is short (45 minutes or so) and it won't taste or smell sour/fermented after sitting out all day on the counter to defrost and then rise again. However, you can freeze any dough you like, as long as it's homemade or a store-bought dough that you can vouch for.

Step 2: Ball it Up

Ball of pizza dough ready for freezing — Divide the dough and form it into balls, then place each ball in a separate zip-top freezer bag or other airtight freezer-friendly container. For most of my recipes, you will divide the dough into two balls for 12-inch pizzas or 4 balls for individual pizzas.

Step 3: Label and Freeze

Label the bags or containers with the date you made the dough, and freeze it for up to 3 months. (Any longer than that, and freezer burn will likely affect the pizza dough's flavor.)

Step 4: Defrost and Bake

First thing in the morning on the day of pizza night, take the pizza dough out of the freezer and place it on your kitchen counter (do not remove it from its container). Let the dough defrost all day. It will gradually soften, then come to room temperature and expand a bit. By dinnertime, the dough will be soft, pliable, and easy to stretch. Now you know how to freeze pizza dough like a batch cooking all-star!

Comments

Green Lantern Pizza says

January 20, 2020 at 4:10 pm

I need This information thanks for sharing. Nice Blog...

- Peggy Paul Casella says
  
  January 20, 2020 at 4:30 pm
  
  My pleasure! Any other pizza questions you'd like answered?
  
Christina says

September 17, 2024 at 12:08 pm

If I made your pizza dough and left 1/2 of it in the fridge to 3d, can I still freeze it or will this negatively impact the quality ? Thank you

- Peggy Paul Casella says
  
  September 17, 2024 at 9:38 pm
  
  I think you'll be fine freezing it. Let me know how it turns out!

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