How To Quickly Defrost Pizza Dough

What if you’re craving homemade pizza for dinner, but your pizza dough is frozen?

You can thaw your pizza dough fast so that you’re ready to make that pizza without waiting 24 hours.

I think the best way to quickly defrost pizza dough is in the microwave, but I’ll show you several ways to thaw is fast.

As you may know, frozen pizza dough can stay in your freezer for two months before you need to use it.

Below we’ll give you tips on how to quickly thaw out your frozen pizza dough ball.

Method 1: Warm Water Soak

While not the fastest option, doing the warm water soak is still a quick way to defrost a frozen ball of pizza dough.

The key is to use warm water, not hot water, because you don’t want to accidentally cook the dough in the water.

Here are the steps to thaw frozen pizza dough in warm water:

1. Remove the frozen pizza dough from the freezer and leave it in the plastic. Put it in an air tight bag, if it is not already in one.
2. Fill a bowl or pan with enough warm water that you can submerge the bag of frozen pizza dough.
3. Leave the dough in the water for one to two hours, until it thaws. You can replace the water as it cools to speed up the process.
4. Then, remove the bag from the water and take the dough out of the bag.
5. Put the dough in a dry bowl to come to room temperature for one hour.

You’ll know that the dough is thawing in the warm water once you start to see bubbles on the surface.

The dough will also feel softer to the touch as it thaws.

Method 2: The Microwave

A quick option than the warm water soak is using your microwave to defrost the frozen pizza dough.

Again, you have to be careful not to actually cook the dough when you are doing this quick thawing.

In my experience, the microwave is the fastest way to defrost frozen pizza dough because it only takes around 15 minutes.

Here are the steps to thaw frozen pizza dough in the microwave:

1. Remove the frozen pizza dough from the freezer and take it out of it’s plastic.
2. On a microwave-safe plate, spray some cooking spray before sitting the frozen dough on the plate.
3. Spray the inside of a piece of plastic wrap before placing it over the frozen dough on the plate, to prevent sticking.
4. Put the plate in the microwave and use the high setting for 20 seconds.
5. Remove the plate after the 20 seconds, lift up the plastic wrap and spray some additional cooking spray and rotate the dough on the plate.
6. Re-cover the dough and put the plate back in the microwave for another 20 seconds.
7. If the dough feels soft when you take it out of the microwave, then you’re ready to use the defrost setting on the microwave. If not, then do another 20 seconds.
8. Put the plate back in the microwave and use the ‘defrost’ setting for 5 minutes to finish the thawing process.
9. Remove the plate from the microwave and let the dough rise for 10 to 13 minutes before using.

Method 3: The Oven

Another quick option for thawing your frozen pizza dough is using your oven to defrost it.

Again, you have to be careful not to actually cook the dough when you are doing this quick thawing.

In my experience, defrosting frozen pizza dough in the oven takes approximately one hour.

Here are the steps to thaw frozen pizza dough in the oven:

1. Remove the frozen pizza dough from the freezer and take it out of it’s plastic.
2. Spray some cooking spray on a baking sheet or pan that is large enough to hold the dough once it has risen. Then, place the frozen dough in the center of the pan.
3. Cover the pan with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray, to prevent sticking.
4. Put your oven on it’s lowest setting and place the covered pan in the oven for approximately one hour. If your oven is too hot, then the plastic wrap will melt – so make sure it is the lowest setting.
5. After one hour, remove the pan from the oven to see if the dough has defrosted. It should have risen some and feel soft. If not, put it back in the oven for another half hour and check again.

Make sure that you do not leave the dough in the oven for more than two hours because you do not want to cook it!

If it’s time to remove the dough from the oven and it is not soft enough, then you can sit it on the counter for an hour or so to rise.

ALSO READ: Can You Freeze Trader Joe’s Pizza Dough?

Final Word

As you can see, there are three easy ways that you can quickly thaw out your frozen pizza dough.

You can thaw the frozen pizza dough as fast as 15 minutes, or as long as 2 hours, which is considerably shorter than the normal 24 hours or overnight thawing period.

Just be careful that you don’t end up accidentally cooking the dough while trying to defrost it.

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