How to Store Pizza Dough

Portioning for Storage

Whenever you find yourself preparing a nice, big batch of pizza dough, it’s good to double or even quadruple the batch if you have intention of storing it for your future pizza fun. 

Of course, before you think about storing, you’ll need to let it rise at least one time. Then, once it’s risen, you’ll want to portion it before you stow it away. If you doubled the batch, divide it into two equal parts. If you quadrupled it, divide it into four equal parts – and so on.

Any time the pizza craving strikes, you simply need to take out one portion of your stored dough and you’ll be ready to go! You’ll thank yourself for doing this since you won’t have to mess with cutting or mixing dough every time you want pizza. 

Avoid the Counter

Let’s say you made pizza dough and left it atop your kitchen counter at room temperature. In this scenario, the yeast within the mixture would cause expansion, which leads to over-fermentation and ultimately –  a bad taste. In short, the yeast grows for a while, then it dies.

If you were to take that dough with that dead, inactive yeast and bake it, it would not rise. This is because all of the yeast power would have already been used up. Your end result would be a chewy, tough, solid and unappetizing crust. 

We know you don’t want that! That’s why, if you’re planning on storing pizza dough for future use, you need to ensure that it’s kept in a chilled environment in order to prevent the yeast from growing quickly and dying. 

Pizza dough in fridge or freezer environments are not only perfect, but ideal!

In the Fridge

Let’s go back to your portions. You’ve made your dough and it’s divided equally and ready for storage.

At this point, if you’d like to store it in your fridge, your next step would be to ensure the dough is in an air-tight environment. You can either wrap it directly within plastic wrap or you may place it within an airtight plastic storage container. Even a zippered bag would be just fine, so long as you press the air out of it and make sure it’s well-sealed.

Once you’ve completed this step, you may place your dough in the fridge. In this environment, your dough will stay fresh for about 2 weeks. 

When you’re ready to use it for pizza-baking, simply remove it from your fridge, unwrap it, and set it on your counter or within a bowl that’s lightly floured. Loosely cover it and allow it to come down to room temperature. Then, you’ll just need to roll it out into a pizza crust, sprinkle it with your favorite toppings and bake!

In the Freezer

When storing pizza dough in the freezer, you’ll follow a similar process to storing it in the fridge. First, you’ll need to wrap the dough tightly within an airtight environment to prevent dried out dough. Next, you may place the portions of dough into the freezer until you’re ready to bake with it. 

In the freezer, your dough will last for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to use it, remove it from your freezer, place it into your fridge and allow it to thaw overnight. Finally, you can take the defrosted dough and unwrap it. Move it to a lightly-floured surface, loosely cover and allow it to drop to room temperature. Once it has, simply roll out the dough into your crust shape, bake and savor the deliciousness!

Conclusion

At this point, we hope we’ve helped clarify just how simple it is to properly store pizza dough! 

The awesome part is that regardless of how long you store your dough, it’ll bake perfectly. Keep it in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a few weeks. Either way, you’re in for a fresh, scrumptious treat once it comes out of the oven. 

Now that you know the pizza-storing ways, you’ll never have to make pizza dough by single batches again – always make 3, 4, or 5 times the amount, wrap it up and store it away. This way, you’re ready to go anytime pizza hunger strikes!