The Virtues of Frozen Dough: Part One

Imagine this: It’s a dark and stormy night. You head to the kitchen to make dinner but you’re at a loss.  Your spouse wants something buttery and flaky.  Your kids want a night free from tasteless vegetables. But alas! You know the only thing that will make them all happy is something baked with… dun dun dun!.... Dough!  AGHHHRRRGH!!! The only way to wake up from this kitchen nightmare is to save yourself! You open the freezer and discover something you never even knew existed—frozen dough.

The virtues of frozen dough are many.  From ease of use to convenience to its incredibly tasty quality, you’ll be able to fool even the smartest of your friends and family into thinking you actually made something from scratch.  And honestly, it really will taste just as good, if not better.

There are two types of frozen dough that I like to work with: Puff Pastry and Phyllo Dough.  Today let’s focus on puff pastry.

This stuff does what the name says when you cook it—it simply puffs up.  It comes in a box in the frozen section of your grocery store.  Sometimes it’s near the canned frozen biscuits in the open freezers and sometimes it’s behind the door near the frozen biscuits in a bag.  The hardest thing about this dough is finding it in the grocery store… and now that you know where to look that will be easy, too!  It comes in a flat, long box. You’ll find a few layers of it inside some plastic. The pastry dough will be neatly folded and often in two packets within the box.

If there is a trick to working with any frozen dough, here it is: defrost the number of packets you’ll need overnight in the refrigerator.  Skip this step and you’ll be right back in that nightmare scenario I mentioned at the beginning. Your dough will be frozen and break, or worse yet, you’ll put it in the microwave for too long and it will turn into unpleasant, sticky, gooey nastiness.  So defrost it in the fridge!!!

Now it’s time to get cooking.  Unwrap your puff pastry sheets and GENTLY unfold them on a lightly floured surface or a silicone mat. If there is ANY resistance whatsoever STOP! If your dough is not defrosted all the way, when you try to unfold it, it will crack and break.  You have two options if you encounter this problem: leave it on the counter for 15 minutes to defrost or place it in the microwave for 10 seconds.  That should work.  If it doesn’t, check the other items in your refrigerator.  They’re probably all somewhat frozen. (That means you’ve got your fridge set too cold.)

Now that your dough is unfolded, you can use it just like homemade dough.  Use a biscuit cutter to cut out little rounds.  In some small ramekins, layer some pre-cooked chicken and small-cut fresh veggies with a couple of tablespoons of Cream of Mushroom soup, and then place the dough on top. Then follow the puff pastry package directions for baking.  Or lay one whole piece of puff pastry in a two-piece tart pan, forming the sides and cutting off excess. Prick the bottom with a fork to prevent it from rising and fill with whatever filling you like, savory or sweet.

Or you can make my all-time favorite puff pastry application: Puff Pastry Squares with Roasted Vegetables.  All you do is cut one sheet of puff pastry into four squares. Prick the insides of the squares with a fork to prevent them from rising, avoiding about a one inch margin on all four sides. Brush with olive oil and lay your favorite veggies on top.  I like strips of green, red and yellow peppers with a little dried oregano. I also like to layer slices of olives and mushrooms and add a little Herbs De Provence. That’s a mix of savory, rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, marjoram and fennel seed.  Don’t worry; you can buy it already put together in the store.

Or you can think more like a pizza and include tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni.  Or you can go gourmet with thinly sliced Granny Smith apples, blue cheese crumbles and candied walnuts.  Really anything that would go on a pizza, in pasta, in a salad or in an omelet will work great.  You can even coat it in butter, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it, roll it up and slice it into cinnamon buns.  Then whisk together powdered sugar and milk for the frosting.  Get creative! Then follow the baking instructions for the dough and you’ve turned out something quite simple and elegant that your friends and family will think you slaved over.

Once you’ve mastered the simple recipes, check out the links below for more complicated arrangements.  Or you can move on to something that sounds even more devious: Phyllo Dough!  I’ll save that potential nightmare for my next article.  Sweet dreams… MWOOHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Epicurious Recipes (Gourmet and Bon Appétit Magazines)
Food Network Recipes