How long does pizza dough keep in the fridge?
The recipe is 500g flour, 325g water, 20g cake yeast, 10g salt and 20g of olive oil. After kneading I split it into 4 and store them individually in oiled freezer bags and store in the fridge at 1C.
Usually I eat them within a week but sometimes it happens that the last dough gets baked after up to 2 weeks of refrigeration. Today was one of those days and it got me wondering, how long can it really last?
Googling gave me the answer of 3 days... yikes
I've probably made over a hundred pizzas well past the 3 day mark though and even at 2 weeks they come out perfectly good.
The flavor peaks at around 48h of refrigeration IMO, after that it keeps getting more sour and yeasty but not to the point where I'd consider it bad. Also the rise that goes into the edge of the crust isn't as impressive after 72h but pizza is mostly flat anyway!
So.. whats the real limit?
Best Answer
As long as there's no mold in it your dough should be ok. Flavour and texture will start to degrade due to the yeast dying out (as you found already).
Technically, you'd get better results if you feed that dough regularly with more flour like a sourdough - which can last virtually forever!
Other than that you could also freeze the dough balls and just defrost a day before you use it. Frozen dough should last for months with no change in texture or flavor if there's no freezer burn.
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Can pizza dough go bad in the fridge?
If stored correctly, pizza dough will last at least 3 days and up to 5 days in the fridge before it goes bad and even longer in the freezer. Making homemade pizza dough is easy, far more delicious, and cheaper than store-bought pizza dough.How can you tell if refrigerated pizza dough is bad?
If you take the dough out of the fridge and its texture is diminished or it is exceptionally dry feeling, with a crusty appearance, it's probably past its prime. Put it in the bin. Pizza dough that has a grey color, rather than a fresh white or beige one, or dough that has flecks of grey, is also likely spoiled.What happens if you leave pizza dough in the fridge too long?
There is one more problem when storing pizza dough in the fridge for more than five days. Bacteria will develop excessively after that period, and it will worsen, particularly when using dough that contains eggs or milk. This process will be much faster if you leave the dough at room temperature for a few hours.How long does raw dough last in the fridge?
A dough will last approximately three days in the refrigerator; however, it is best to use it within 48 hours. This is the best way to refrigerate your dough. After the dough is kneaded, place in a lightly oiled, large mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator.How To Store Pizza Dough In The Fridge Overnight (To Avoid Dry Dough) | Cold Proof Pizza Dough
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Answer 2
There isn't a specific limit.
Two bad things will happen to dough in the fridge as it ages:
- The yeast exhausts all available food and dies, leaving the dough underinflated, sour, and even alcohol-tasting;
- The dough gets moldy, which happens at some undefined time based on the presence of viable mold spores in the dough or in the fridge.
As you've already observed, if you're lucky both of the above things can be at tolerable levels even after a few weeks.
Wheat gluten is extremely stable (7-10 years), so I don't think it will degrade within reasonable refrigerator times. Presumably other ingredients in the dough would suffer some kind of degredation over weeks or months, but I don't know what those would be.
That said, if you're planning to keep your pizza dough for more than a few days, consider putting it in the freezer where it will last for months to years.
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