Freezing Bread Dough

[babkanosher]

Has anyone had any luck (and specific advice) for freezing bread dough? Will I have better results if I shape the loaf and freeze before baking or if I bake then freeze? If I freeze first, how do I go about safely thawing/rising?

I will be away for several weeks this summer and would like to stock the freezer with frozen challahs for my husband!

[The Professor]

When making bread dough I have often taken a portion of it off to freeze immediately after mixing.
Upon thawing it seems to behave exactly like freshly made dough, at least in my experience.

[Bada Bing]

Freezing bread works very well if you double-wrap it after it is absolutely cooled down.

One can freeze dough, too, but I think the process would be less predictable and perhaps more than your husband would be eager to deal with. Depending on the actual dough, the shaping would probably have to be redone.

[serenarobin]

For challahs, I've found that baking and freezing works better than freezing the dough.
I usually bake and freeze a few weeks' worth of challahs.
I take them out on Friday afternoon and put them on the counter to thaw. Later, when I'm warming up dinner, I warm the challahs tightly wrapped in foil for about 15 minutes or so.
For other breads and pizza dough I have good results when I freeze the uncooked dough.