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What to Freeze Ahead so You Bake Less on Market Day | Episode 28

  • Nov 12, 2024
  • 6 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Listen on Apple Podcasts


Your bake day is the bottleneck in your whole business. However many hours you can stand in that kitchen is how much you can sell, and no amount of marketing gets around it.


Your freezer is the cheapest way to move work off that day. Anything you can mix, portion and freeze in a quiet week is work that is already done when the busy week arrives, and it lets you carry more products without adding more bake day hours.


I asked my Instagram community what they freeze ahead and bake straight from frozen, and so many of you answered that I could build a whole list from it. Here is everything that came in, plus the two experiments I ran in my own bakery.


Start with cookies and scones

These two came up more than anything else, by a long way. If you are not freezing them yet, start here this week.


Cookies. Roll the dough into balls, freeze them solid on a sheet pan, then move them to a zip top bag and bake straight from frozen. Several bakers told me their cookies bake better from frozen than from the fridge or from room temperature, and I agree. Mine hold their shape and bake more consistently.


My own version: I roll the balls, let them ferment in the fridge for twenty four to thirty six hours, then freeze them. I often mix ten times my normal batch, around two hundred cookies, so the freezer carries me for a couple of weeks and I never have to mix cookies during a market week.


One baker presses her chocolate chip cookie dough into a large sheet pan, freezes it, then cuts squares and rounds the edges when she is ready to bake. If you try that, line the pan with parchment first. It makes the squares far easier to lift out.


Scones. Cut them, freeze them, bake them from frozen. Multiple bakers said the same thing, and there is a bonus most people do not expect. Scones hold their structure better from frozen than from the fridge. If yours have been slumping sideways in the oven, a hard freeze will probably fix it.


My method is to press a big batch into a parchment lined sheet pan, cut it into portions with a bench scraper, ferment overnight in the fridge, then freeze. Once solid I break it into sections of eight, bag them, and bake straight from frozen with an egg glaze and turbinado sugar or lemon zest depending on the flavor.


The rest of the list from the community

Every one of these came from a working microbaker.

  • Pizza dough. Freeze the dough, then thaw and rise at room temperature when you are ready, shape, top and bake.

  • Bagels. Boil them first, then freeze after boiling and bake later.

  • Dinner rolls. Freeze after the first rise, thaw in the fridge, and give them a second rise on the counter before baking. This is the one I plan to test for the holidays.

  • Biscuits. Cut or drop them onto a baking sheet, freeze, transfer to bags and bake from there.

  • Brownies. Underbake them slightly, freeze, then reheat and finish them on market day so the customer gets a warm brownie. That is a clever way to keep the fresh from the oven feeling on a day you have no oven time.

  • Croissants and Danish pastry dough.

  • Pie crust, apple turnovers, buttercream, cake layers, and piped choux dough for cream puffs and eclairs.

  • Artisan loaves. One baker freezes the dough in the banneton after cold fermentation, takes it out frozen, bags it, then thaws it and bakes. She says it comes out like a fresh loaf. I have heard mixed results on this one, so freeze a single loaf and test it before you commit a whole batch.

Two more ideas that go past dough entirely.


Freeze your inclusions. One baker keeps shredded cheese, jalapenos, bananas, precut fruit and vegetables, and lemon zest in the freezer, and adds them to dough still frozen. Watch your hydration if you are adding something wet like blueberries, because they release a lot of liquid as they thaw.


And some things are prep ahead rather than freeze ahead. Pancake mix, dehydrated sourdough starter and a savory olive oil dip can all be made in advance. Granola made at the start of the week and stored in an airtight container or straight in its packaging keeps beautifully all week.


Finished product, not just dough

One baker bakes her brownies and her banana bread, freezes the individual slices, and packages them like normal single servings. The day before a market she lays them out to come to room temperature and adds the labels once they are thawed.


I like this for grab and go items specifically, since those are things a customer eats rather than refreezes. Test it against your own recipes first and make sure they thaw as well as they bake fresh.


My two experiments this year

English muffins. My customers love them and they take forever, so I could only offer them once or twice a month. Now I mix the dough, cold proof it overnight, shape the dough balls, freeze them on a sheet pan and bag them. On bake day I put them on a pan or a dough bin lined with semolina, let them thaw and finish their second proof, and bake as normal. They come out slightly less fluffy than fresh, and the crumb is actually better. The nooks and crannies were unreal.


Muffins. I froze the batter directly in the liners, crumble topping and all, and baked them straight from frozen. They came out beautifully and released from the liner perfectly. Jumbo muffins needed about ten extra minutes in the oven. My freezer is full of muffin batter in liners right now and I could not be happier about it!


If you are a year or two in, treat the freezer as inventory

Once you have real order volume, freezer prep stops being a trick and becomes a system. A few things to put in place:

  • Test one batch before you commit. Freeze a single loaf, a single tray, and bake it exactly the way you would on a market day. Some items come out better frozen and some do not, and you want to know which is which before a holiday week.

  • Label everything with the item, the date and the bake instructions. Frozen from a week ago and frozen from two months ago do not bake the same, and future you will not remember which is which.

  • Work backwards from your busiest weeks. Look at Thanksgiving and Christmas pre-orders, decide what has to be made fresh, and put everything else on a freezer build schedule for the quiet weeks before.

  • Count your freezer space as capacity. Before you buy a bigger mixer, look at whether a second freezer would buy you more sellable hours for less money. That is exactly why I invested in a new one.


Final thoughts

None of this is about cutting corners on quality. Every one of these methods came from a baker who tested it and kept it because the product was as good or better. Freezer prep is how you offer more, sleep more, and get through a holiday season without hating your own pre-order list.


Pick one thing this week. Roll a double batch of cookie dough, freeze the balls, and see how it feels to walk into a market week with that job already done.


Cheering you on,


Caroline


Keep going

If this one was useful, these three go well with it.


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