The Best Way To Thaw Frozen Pizza Dough Fast

There aren't a lot of recipes we would call dangerous, but learning how to make pizza dough, freeze, and thaw it just might be one — in a good way, of course.

Pizza, without hyperbole, might be the most beloved food in America, rivaled only by hamburgers in the sheer scale of its popularity. It's also something heavily associated with takeout and frozen food, not home cooking. So, when you assemble a pizza from scratch for the first time and realize you can make one of your favorite foods better than you ever imagined, it blows you away. It's the kind of kitchen revelation that can turn a novice into a dedicated cook for life.

The thing that makes this dangerous is that you can freeze your pizza dough, and then have pizza anytime at a moment's notice. With balls of fresh pizza dough stocked in the freezer, you'll be beset by the endless realization that you can skip the salad and have some fantastic pizza for dinner in an hour, with almost no effort. 

According to Kitchn, fully risen pizza dough can be frozen for up to three months, and freezing it is as simple as coating it in oil and sealing it in a freezer bag with the air pushed out. Then, when the pizza craving hits, you are an easy defrost away from one of the most satisfying meals you can make.

You can't defrost pizza dough in an instant, but you can do it quick enough to make it a viable weeknight meal with little planning. According to MasterClass, the best method for defrosting pizza dough quickly is by putting the sealed bag of dough in cold water. While defrosting pizza dough in the fridge overnight is also good, it's nowhere near as fast as this method, which can defrost your pizza base in as little as an hour. You can even speed this up by using lukewarm water. Just make sure it's not hot or the outside of the dough may start to cook. Then, all you need to do is let your dough sit out of the bag to reach room temperature, roll out, and cook.

The other option you might want to try, the microwave, might be quicker, but it may not produce the best results — and can be a bit risky, per MasterClass. As Lifehacker notes, the big advantage of the cool water method is that it allows the inside and outside of the dough to proof at an even pace. Ever bit into a microwave meal that was piping hot on the outside but still half-frozen inside? That uneven heat is a big issue with dough. Even if you were gentle with the microwave, it can leave some parts frozen while others start to expand. So be patient, it's only an hour, and then welcome yourself to the dangerously delicious world of great pizza.