Family of 5 'shop from home'food storage challenge...

minimooch

Great to see things moving again.

questions for you all. HM pizza (dough made in the panny) is a great way to create a meal out of whatever's left in the fridge, but I dont always have time to do it on the days I work. Can I make up a pizza with toppings and cheese etc, and freeze it BEFORE i cook it, and then can I cook it from frozen like when you buy them from Mr Ts?

would it be better to cook it first, or part cook it first? doesnt feel like it would be as nice if i cooked it first

If I do that is it possible to slide it off the dish once its frozen so i could make more than one?

thanks

purpleivy

I've made my bases and frozen them as they are and I have 'units' of tom sauce made up in the freezer, also bags of grated cheese. Doesn't take long to put them together,

I've found they're better if I put them straight onto the racks in the oven... don't have a fancy pizza tray thing.

purpleivy

minimooch wrote: »

Great to see things moving again.

questions for you all. HM pizza (dough made in the panny) is a great way to create a meal out of whatever's left in the fridge, but I dont always have time to do it on the days I work. Can I make up a pizza with toppings and cheese etc, and freeze it BEFORE i cook it, and then can I cook it from frozen like when you buy them from Mr Ts?

would it be better to cook it first, or part cook it first? doesnt feel like it would be as nice if i cooked it first

If I do that is it possible to slide it off the dish once its frozen so i could make more than one?

thanks

My panasonic doesn't seem to be able to do pizza dough on a timer. THis is a real nuisance, as it means I can't set it for the dough to be ready when I come in. Or for bread rolls. I think it's a 253.

minimooch

purpleivy wrote: »

I've made my bases and frozen them as they are and I have 'units' of tom sauce made up in the freezer, also bags of grated cheese. Doesn't take long to put them together,

I've found they're better if I put them straight onto the racks in the oven... don't have a fancy pizza tray thing.

do you roll them out and freeze them , or just throw a lump of dough in the freeze? Are you cooking from frozen? if so, how longdo you cook them for (forgot to ask in my original post)

thanks

minimooch

purpleivy wrote: »

My panasonic doesn't seem to be able to do pizza dough on a timer. THis is a real nuisance, as it means I can't set it for the dough to be ready when I come in. Or for bread rolls. I think it's a 253.

I know what you mean, I have a 255. my old russell hobbs was V noisy, but you could do ANY of the programs on a timer. The panny is a lot fussier. i have to say I havent noticed that the pannys bread is any better, but the machine is a LOT quieter.

purpleivy

minimooch wrote: »

do you roll them out and freeze them , or just throw a lump of dough in the freeze? Are you cooking from frozen? if so, how longdo you cook them for (forgot to ask in my original post)

thanks

errrrm.....I roll out the dough when I'm making pizza anyway, so the oven is on. Give the bases about 6 mins, so just par-baking really. Cool, wrap well and freeze. I have to confess that I didn't cook them, the kids did it and said it was fine. They put topping onto the frozen bases I think. If you cook from frozen, it's easier to slide them onto the shelves of the oven. I normally give pizza about 10 minutes if it's not too cold then check. Pandoro gave istructions, which I will try and locate...I'm sure I don't bake for as long as she does though....

......edit
The dough recipe I use is from the BBC Good Food magazine's Christmas veggie issue from a couple of years ago. It makes two pizza crusts, 33cm in diameter. I bought my pizza pans last fall from Carrefour in France, they are enamel (I don't use Teflon, and it seems that's all you can get in this country) and have holes in the bottom so that the crust gets crisp.

225ml warm water
1-1/8 teaspoon dried yeast
pinch of sugar
340g strong white flour (this time I made with around 1/4 whole wheat flour)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Put water in a container (I use a glass measuring cup) and nuke until it is blood-warm, around 30 seconds on high (test on your wrist). Add sugar and yeast, and set aside to prove for 10 minutes or so (until it gets foamy).

Combine flour & salt. When yeast is ready, stir in olive oil, then add this mixture to the flour. Stir until more or less combined, then turn out onto the counter. Knead for 10 minutes (adding more flour if the dough is too sticky), then form into a ball. Put in a greased bowl (large enough to allow for rising), cover and set aside in a warm place for 1-1/2 hours, or until dough has doubled.

Punch dough down and divide into two equal pieces. Roll each half of dough out on a floured countertop, then transfer to greased pizza pans (I usually roll out to about 3/4 of the final size, then finish stretching it into shape on the pizza pan). I then usually let it rise again for 15 minutes or more (this time I let it rise for around 45 minutes, as I had to go to the store).

Preheat oven to 230C. Cook pizza bases for six minutes (turn around after three minutes), then let cool on a wire rack. When cool, I wrap the bases in foil, put them in plastic bags and freeze them.

When I'm ready to make pizza, I take the bases out of the freezer, add sauce and toppings, and bake in a 230C oven until the crust is crispy (usually around 30 minutes). I cover the pizza with foil except the last 5 or 10 minutes because I use non-dairy cheese (Cheezly), and it dries out if cooked at high temperature without being covered. If you use dairy cheese and don't cover the pizza, it probably won't take 30 minutes to cook.

minimooch

thanks for all that purpleivy, I'll have a go at making and freezing a few bases. My lot do love HM pizza, and my tom sauce has loads of veg wizzed up so I can get 5 a day into the toddler.

shaz_mum_of__2

mama67

Hi Masie have you tried T's own fruit and barley its only 64p(ish) not sure if they do peach though? my eldest drinks about 4 bottles a week!!! of the fruits of forest he says its nicer than the branded one?


Shazx

tomtombeanie

Hi, another newbie - found the apple braid recipe a couple of days ago & had great success. The dough made loads - three good sized braids, so I gave one to our neighbour & we have scoffed one and a bit ourselves.

I've got two boys - ages nearly 7 and nearly 3, and a husband who works away quite a bit. I finished work 3 years ago and have noticed in the last few months that we just don't make it through the month moneywise anymore!

I like to bake and cook and have been reading a lot of the OS threads for a year or so now.

I freeze my HM pizza dough in lumps - tend to do individual size pizzas so everyone can have exactly what they want on their own pizza.

Can't wait to try the savoury braid recipe!

x

NoahsPennilessMummy

Shaz I am another stockpiler:o

I like to have full cupboards!!!!

This is partly because DS is autistic and quite brand specific and the thought of running out of one of his foods is terrifying:eek: .

Sometimes tho I find that once I have stockpiled he sometimes goes off certain foods......ie the 12 tins of heinz spaghetti lurking in my shed:D