How to defrost dough quickly and correctly

Frozen dough is a real boon for any housewife who loves to bake. You can make the preparation yourself or buy it in any store. This option of storing the product helps to save a lot of time. But it is very important to defrost the dough correctly, so that the bakery in the oven will rise well.

How to properly defrost the dough

Leaving the dough to thaw in the room is the most common option, but not quick. Some hostesses defrost in the oven, microwave, refrigerator or water bath. There are many ways to defrost, it all depends on the type of dough.

Puff Pastry

Frozen puff pastry is not suitable for work, because it is fragile, you can not mold anything out of it. It does not need to be thawed to a soft consistency, and elastic and flexible dough is also convenient to work with.

Puff pastry is usually frozen in layers. Before defrosting it is necessary to separate the sheets from each other, so that the edges do not float or stick together at high temperatures. It is very important not to overheat the puff pastry, otherwise its structure will be disturbed, it will turn into ordinary and in the process of baking will not rise well.

How to conduct the defrosting process:

1. If there is packaging, remove it.
2. If possible, separate the layers from each other.
3. Place the piece on a table next to a hot oven or close to a radiator, another source of heat.
4. To ensure that the top of the layer does not get airy, periodically sprinkle with water or cover with parchment paper or kitchen towel.

You can also send the unpacked billet in a microwave with the defrosting function for 5-7 minutes, turning it at least once. However, this option is not the most preferable, because the structure of the product will be disturbed, the baking will not rise. Some housewives put to thaw puff pastry directly in the package in warm water.

Yeast

Homemade food should not be frozen initially in any container, but immediately in a plastic bag or cling film. In addition, many women make cakes and puffs at once, freeze them, and then send them to the oven without first defrosting. This saves a lot of time and effort. Such semi-finished products are stored for up to 2 months.

Defrosting yeast dough has many nuances. It is very important to increase the temperature gradually, yeasted frozen preparation should not be put immediately in a pan of hot water or on the radiator, so it will lose its qualities and taste properties.

The frozen product is moved to a refrigerated chamber, where the temperature is higher. After 2 hours it is taken out and left to thaw at room temperature, away from heat sources. The hostess must make sure there is no drafts, otherwise the dough will settle. In the last stage of thawing it is allowed to move the workpiece closer to the oven or a radiator.

This option is the best for yeast dough. If there is no time, and the volume of dough is small, professionals advise defrosting in the multicooker at 40 degrees for half an hour. It is important to remember that repeated freezing is forbidden.

Unleavened dough

This kind of dough is defrosted in many ways, because it is not as capricious as yeast or puff pastry. If there is no microwave or multicooker in the kitchen, and there is no time to wait for thawing at room temperature or in the refrigerator, you can try defrosting the dough in a water bath or in hot water.

1. Place the cold dough in a plastic bag, then in another bag.
2. Let the excess air out of the bag.
3. Dip in hot water, but not in boiling water. As the liquid cools, replace it. The optimal water temperature is 40-50 degrees.

If there is no package, yeast-free dough is wrapped in food film or foil.

Sandy

Such a preparation is stored in the freezer for about 2-3 months, so the products from it are even more crispy. Before freezing, it is better to roll the shortbread dough into balls and wrap it in clingfilm. When thawing it is important not to overheat, so the product will quickly go bad because of the large amount of oil it contains. To collect it in a pile then it will be simply impossible. The only type of shortbread dough that is not subject to freezing is chopped, after defrosting it becomes unplastic and hard.

It is enough to leave the shortbread dough for an hour or two at room temperature. Before the baking process, it should be well kneaded to break up any lumps that have formed. The same method is also suitable for muffin dough for cakes, which also has a high oil content.

For pizza

To prepare such a popular dish, it is recommended to freeze the dough not as a shapeless mass, but immediately in the form of a round base with sides. This way you don't have to waste extra time defrosting, you just have to add sauces, toppings, and cheese to the base and send it to the oven. The base for pizza can be seen even in supermarkets, it is not baked flatbread, but molded dough, which should only be baked in the oven.

Pizza dough is thawed by any quick method. But experts advise to put the workpiece in a glass dish, sprinkle with water, cover with foil or towel to prevent leavening and leave next to the stove, oven or radiator. The whole thawing process will take about 1-2 hours.

Dumplings

When thawing this type of dough, it is important to do everything right, so that it does not cease to be pliable and sticky. The workpiece from the freezer should be moved overnight to the refrigerator, and then at room temperature let it finish for another couple of hours.

If there is no possibility to wait so long, it is better to put the dough next to something warm, put it in hot water. When thawing quickly, the dough must be constantly kneaded and flour must be added. Once the dumpling dough is completely thawed, it must be left for a quarter of an hour, only after this "rest" is it completely ready for molding.

Filo dough

Baking from phyllo turns out airy and tender, so many housewives buy ready-made dough in the store or make it yourself. After all, to make it quickly and easily, and the ingredients require few. Frozen billet in the form of thin sheets, between which make a layer of food film or parchment paper.

To keep the dough in the right consistency, it is better not to defrost it by quick methods, but leave it in the fridge for 10 hours.

If guests are on the doorstep and you want to surprise them with a delicious snack or strudel, defrosting in a water bath is ideal:

1. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper or oil to prevent the food from sticking to the bottom of the pan as it thaws.
2. Place the pan on a pan of boiling water. The steam from the boiling water will quickly help to defrost the food. The entire process will take no more than 40 minutes.
3. Periodically turn the dough so that the thawing is even.

It is important not to overheat the phyllo, so that it does not lose its plasticity property. Thawed dough should easily peel off from paper or film.

Can I defrost dough in the microwave?

This household appliance is in every modern kitchen. This is no coincidence, it is convenient not only to reheat cold food or cook some dishes, but also to defrost food quickly. Dough can also be defrosted in this way, but there are points to pay attention to.

It is not advisable to defrost puff pastry and yeast dough in the microwave, since they have a special structure, which easily deteriorates due to high temperature and rapid defrosting. Baking from such thawed dough can fail. The dough will not rise, will become hard and bitter to the taste.

Unleavened dough is easy and simple to defrost in this way, if the microwave has a special function. The hostess will have to calculate the mass to determine the number of minutes of defrosting. If there is no desired mode, you need to reconfigure the power from 50 to 100 watts. In the process of defrosting, the product should be turned several times, so everything heats evenly.

It is not recommended to defrost large amounts of dough, as the top of the workpiece will defrost faster, losing plasticity, but inside it will remain cold. To avoid this, freeze the dough better in small lumps or layers. If the dough is too long in the microwave, the top will be crusted, it will become unsuitable for cooking. It is also possible that the product in the microwave will not defrost, but bake if you over power it.

Do I need to defrost puff pastry before baking?

Working with frozen dough is quite difficult, you can't roll it out, you can't give it the right shape. Therefore, before working the layer of puff pastry in any case have to defrost, preferably in the refrigerator or at room temperature. Experts do not recommend emergency defrosting for puff pastry on the radiator, in the microwave or in a water bath. This spoils the structure and it will not rise during baking, it will become stiff and hard. If the dough piece is rolled, you can gradually peel off the top layers and work with them as it thaws.

Do not overdo it and thaw the puff pastry to the point where it becomes very soft. It will not fit well in the oven and is harder to work with. A kitchen towel, parchment paper or foil, previously placed on the workpiece, will help prevent crusting. Thawed product should be rolled with a rolling pin only in one direction to preserve the integrity of the layers. It is important to note that the dough should not be re-frozen.

A great solution would be to mold fresh puff pastry, rolls, freeze them in this form. When you want to bake something, you do not have to defrost the dough, frozen semi-finished products just send it to the oven until fully cooked. That way, by taking an extra half hour or an hour on a free day to work with fresh dough, you don't have to bother with defrosting the product.

How to freeze dough properly

The defrosting process is very much influenced by how properly the product is frozen. There are a few nuances that will help housewives when working with dough:

1. Do not freeze the whole dough, it is better to divide it into small portions. This way they defrost faster, and you won't have to deal with the fact that the product is already soft on top, but icy on the inside. Manufacturers often freeze in the form of sheets, which is also quite convenient.
2. The dough is necessarily wrapped either in food film, or in cellophane, so that there is no crust. If there is no film, you can use foil. But in that case, the workpiece must first be sprinkled with flour, and then wrapped.
3. The product is stored in the freezer for no more than 2 months.
4. The ideal is to form dumplings, dumplings, puffs and even whole pies in advance. Then there will be no need to wait for them to thaw, you can put the semi-finished product immediately in the oven or cook in a pot.

Can dough be refrozen

Fresh dough can be frozen and kept in the freezer for up to 45 days. The purchased versions are sometimes stored for up to a year, this is due to the fact that the product has been blast-frozen. Such a process does not affect the taste and physical properties of the preparation, if it is properly defrosted and not overdone with high temperature. It is important to remember that the most capricious is yeast dough. It should never be refrozen repeatedly, spoiling the quality of the yeast and the finished dish. This can lead to food poisoning.

If you periodically defrost and freeze the dough again, the thawed product will float, cease to be elastic, plastic. It is impossible to give it the desired shape, it will not rise in the oven. As a result, the baked product will be spoiled. If for some reason it is not possible to work with the entire volume of dough, which had to defrost - no problem, it is stored in a normal refrigerator for about two days.

For this reason, you need to carefully choose the dough in the store, trying to feel the shape of the workpiece through the packaging: whether the "roll" is not skewed, whether the layers are even. If the shape is deformed, it indicates that the storage conditions in the supermarket were not met, and the product has already defrosted and then frozen again. This way a person will buy a cat in a bag, the baked goods may not turn out.

Frozen dough is very helpful for modern hostesses who want to please their housemates or guests with a delicious dessert. If there is very little time, you can resort to quick ways to defrost: leave it on the radiator, in an oven heated to 40-50 degrees, in hot water, put in a water bath for half an hour, in the microwave. However, you should take into account that puff pastry and yeast dough is quite capricious, you need to start defrosting it in advance. Otherwise, after thawing it is inconvenient to work with, in the process of baking the product will not rise, baked goods will be hard. Also, the yeast billet when thawed quickly disrupts the process of yeast fermentation, which necessarily affects the taste and appearance of the finished product.

It is best to leave the frozen dough beforehand overnight in the refrigerator or at least for a few hours at room temperature, so all the taste and physical qualities of the product will be preserved.