John Myers
Would you like to prepare the dough for rolls or yeast buns for the next day or have you simply kneaded too much yeast dough? No problem – we’ll show you 2 ways to store it and how long it will last before it goes bad.
When is yeast dough bad?
The dough, whether made with fresh yeast from the refrigerated section or with dry yeast, which is perfect for storage, is then no longer usable if it has risen for too long. At room temperature, this can happen after just a few hours – when the small dough bubbles (the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation) burst and the yeast dough collapses. At the latest when it smells fermented, you should definitely dispose of it and never use it again. To prevent this from happening, you can keep yeast dough refrigerated for up to 24 hours or frozen for up to 6 months.
Tip: We show you how to freeze yeast dough properly in our instructions on how to freeze yeast dough properly.
Shelf life of yeast dough in the refrigerator
How great is it to conjure up fresh Sunday rolls on the table, don’t you think? So that you can start baking right away in the morning, we recommend that you prepare the required dough with yeast the day before. Well chilled, it can be kept for 12 to 18 hours, or at most 24 hours, without losing quality and taste. The dough will rise during cooling, just much slower than at room temperature. Note the following tips:
- only use half the amount of yeast specified in the recipe and use cold ingredients
- Dust with flour after kneading
- Chill directly in a sufficiently large container with a lid or in a bowl
- allow standing at room temperature for about 20 minutes before further processing
Freezer for longer shelf life
So that leftover dough with yeast does not go bad, you can freeze it at -18°C for several months without any problems. Proceed as follows:
- Shape dough into a ball before freezing
- Dust lightly with flour to prevent sticking
- Freeze in a freezer box or freezer bag
After thawing in the refrigerator, the dough can be used like fresh dough, but first has to rise.
Nice to know: Both methods only work with a yeast dough that has not yet risen. If this is the case, we recommend baking the dough and freezing the finished baked goods.
