I have just picked up baking confectionery bread buns and I wanted to ask how long can I keep a mix of dough, yeast and water in the freezer or refrigerator? The mix has no butter or eggs by the way.

Thank you!

  • The way you phrased this, it sounds like you've added yeast and water to the dough. But I think you maybe just meant it's a dough containing yeast and water? – Cascabel Oct 12 '14 at 17:35

Still Tasty recommends 1-2 days fridged, 2-3 months frozen.

The main problem with storing yeast dough in the fridge is that it will continue to rise ... possibly escaping whtever container you may put it into. If I try to refrigerate a normal bread dough, I'll put it in an oiled container at least 3 times the size of the dough, oil the top of the dough, then press on a sheet of waxed paper to keep it from drying out (but so it can still rise), then place the lid on the container, slightly ajar, and then something heavy to keep the lid from lifting up.

If the bread dough is high moisture, low yeast (such as many 'no-knead' doughs that are intended to be refrigerated overnight), they're typically formulated such that they don't have enough strength to escape their container as it'll collapse upon itself first. Many of them you can store for more than a week, but it'll start to take on a more sourdough-like flavor. By about two weeks, they'll start to turn grey.

For freezing pizza crust dough, I've had good luck rolling small balls (maybe 2" / 5cm across)of dough, then placing them into a zip-top container, and then squeezeing out most of the air, and freezing it ... however I do not let it have a first rise; I then move it to the fridge to thaw the morning that I'll be baking it. I leave enough space in the bag so the dough can more than double before the bag pops open. If I need to thaw it faster, the balls mean that I can break it apart to increase the surface area.

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