La tua scorta di pizza: preparo i panetti da congelare

Pizza Dough for Freezing

Ingredients

For 1 kg of flour:

• 1 kg type 0 flour, ideally W 320–340
• 650 g water (65% hydration)
• 25 g salt
• 4 g yeast
• Diastatic malt, amount not specified
• A little oil for the containers; optionally, a drizzle for the dough-resting container

The presenter says malt can help by providing sugars and enzymes. Sugar is not a like-for-like substitute for diastatic malt.

Method

1. Knead the flour, water, salt, yeast, and malt using your usual method. The video uses a mixer, but the presenter says the same principles apply to hand-kneading.
2. Cover the dough and let it rest for 10–20 minutes, until it relaxes. A lightly oiled container can make it easier to remove.
3. Lightly oil freezer containers. Divide the dough into balls of about 270 g—roughly six from this batch—and place them in the containers.
4. Leave the dough balls at about 19°C for around 2 hours, just until the dough has relaxed and shows the first slight puff. Avoid letting it rise too much before freezing. The presenter says a more gassy, bubbly structure can become fragile during longer storage in a home freezer.
5. Freeze the dough in the containers at about −18°C. The video tests dough frozen for about one week. Wrapping the dough directly in plastic wrap is mentioned as an alternative to using containers.
6. To thaw, transfer the dough from the freezer to the fridge overnight. Then let it come to room temperature; the tested dough rested for about 4½ hours before shaping. Thawing at room temperature is also mentioned, though the presenter prefers the fridge method.
7. Remove the dough from the container—the oil helps it release—then stretch, top, and bake as usual. No baking temperature or duration is given.

Tips and Serving Notes

• The dough should show only the start of a rise before freezing, rather than being fully proofed.
• If you have more time after thawing, letting the dough rise further before baking can produce a larger crust rim. The pizza shown was baked before it had risen much, but the presenter reports a good result.
• The method is presented as a way to keep ready-to-use dough on hand rather than discard extra dough.

Presenter/channel: Vita da Pizzachef. The presenter also mentions DoughMetry, an online dough calculator, and references IKEA-style freezer containers and diastatic malt.