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By Root 844 0

with filo is that the sheets dry extremely quickly and start to crumble at the edges even while you are spreading the bottom layers and preparing to deal with the top. So work fast. And take a scrupulously clean tea towel, wring it out in warm water, and lay it on the sheets that are waiting to be oiled/buttered. If you have unused sheets, let them dampen ever so little from the towel, then fold them over and over with waxed paper between the folds; wrap the baton of filo in freezer film, using several thicknesses, then return the filo to its own moisture/vapor-proof envelope; slide it back into the box; seal the box. Remember to label the box with how much filo remains before you freeze it.

If you have bought fresh filo and frozen it in its unopened box, let it thaw for 2 hours before trying to use it: the folds will break unless they’re limber and—though it’s all edible and you can use scraps in the layers—the sheets will tear.

BREADS AND ROLLS

Generally, homemade doughs for yeast breads and rolls do not bake as well as frozen dough from the supermarket does; and they hold well in the freezer only for 1 week.

Unless you must have loaves of sandwich bread on hand for emergencies, save your space for already-baked yeast breads made with extra shortening and sugar: party or sweet rolls or holiday breads or individual breakfast pastries.

It is possible to freeze quick-bread dough packaged in the form of rolled-and-cut biscuits, or muffins in baking cups. However, they take much longer to bake when put directly from the freezer into the oven (no thawing here), that the results are often disappointing. They hold well only for several weeks in the freezer. Best for these reasons to whip up batches as needed.

CAKES

Angel food, sponge, and butter cakes freeze well; fruit cake is the longest freezer without suffering loss of quality.

Icings made from butter and confectioner’s sugar freeze well; Fluffy meringue frostings do not freeze well. Custard fillings do not freeze well.

Wrap closely in freezer film, then put in a freezer bag and seal; it is often good to hold them in pastry boxes to protect them from heavier foods.

Avoid artificial vanilla.

Ideal storage time: up to 2 months.

COOKIES

Baked cookies freeze well, but why bother to wrap against breakage when raw cookie doughs are such a godsend when rolled and frozen in cylinders from which thin slices may be cut off and put in the oven?

Avoid artificial vanilla; also, strong spices can get bitter.

Baked or unbaked, they hold well up to 9 or 10 months.

PIES

Do not skimp on the shortening used in your pastry if you intend to freeze your pies.

Freeze pies with pastry uncooked for best texture. For fruit pies, use uncooked fillings for best results, adding 1½ teaspoons more cornstarch or tapioca or 1 tablespoon more flour than the recipe calls for. Precooked starch-thickened fruit-pie fillings may thin out or otherwise lose texture, unless you use mochiko—see Chapter 5—measure for measure instead of wheat flour, or twice the called-for measure of mochiko instead of cornstarch or tapioca.

Freeze pies and pie shells completely before wrapping them for freezer storage; this prevents breaking the crust. Line the pie pan with freezer film, shape the rolled pastry to fit and crimp the edge, etc., as you like. When the pastry is fully frozen, lift it carefully from the molding container, wrap carefully, label; store in flat boxes if you have them, to protect the pastry from blows during storage.

Do not slit the tops of pies that are to be frozen until just before baking. And wait to glaze with milk or beaten egg until you put them in the oven.

Come the time for baking, frozen pastry cooks better in ovenproof glass or in dull tin or darkened aluminum. Preheat the oven to 450 F/ 232 C, bake the frozen pie for 20 minutes; reduce heat to the normal baking temperature and continue until it is done (about 350 to 375 F/177 to 191 C). It will take longer to finish cooking than if it were thawed before baking.

Pies frozen after being baked should be thawed in a low