Refreezing thawed out bread dough
I have a bag of Bridgeford frozen rolls. Defrosted the whole bag and realized it's too much. Can I refreeze it before it rises? It's still in the refrigerator.
Best Answer
You've likely already made your decision by now, but I personally would not refreeze them unless they were still mostly frozen or only partially thawed. The repeated freezing and thawing action could have negative consequences: if you try to thaw them again and bake, the yeast may not work as well, the texture and flavor could be off, etc. As FDA guidelines say for handling thawed bread dough after a power outage, "quality loss is considerable."
In most cases, I'd prefer to bake the rolls/bread anyway. If I didn't think I could use them up immediately, I'd freeze the baked rolls after they had cooled. They won't be as nice as if they are baked fresh, but if you then defrost and warm them in an oven or toaster oven, they will likely still taste pretty good.
That said, refreezing will likely work, though be prepared for the yeast to be more "sluggish" when thawing again. If the dough is completely thawed and has begun to rise, I might fold it (or reshape the rolls, if it's in the form of individual rolls) to degas it before refreezing; that should help a bit when the yeast start to "wake up" again.
Again, if the dough is completely thawed, I think you'll likely have better quality by baking it now rather than refreezing. But either way you'll probably still be able produce passable rolls which won't be quite as good as if you had just baked them and eaten them now.
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