DIY -- frozen food part 2

Way back in this page on this blog, I had a lesson on boiling water. If you were one of the newbies that I taught to boil water, here are some things you might be glad to know years later when you're baking your own bread and things.

First, almost any bread or baked snack will freeze well. So I usually make a double batch of English muffins and freeze half.

Most of my bread recipes make two loaves. But I'm on a two-grain a day eating program. So what I do is make one loaf, turn the rest into six rolls, bake and freeze the rolls. I eat the loaf, and then the unspoiled rolls are available as needed. You never need to run out and buy bread before a hurricane if you do this. Unless you forget to bake between hurricanes.

Recently I made a batch of Italian bread. What I didn't make into a loaf, I cut in four pieces. What you can do with them at this point is either ball them up and freeze, or roll into circles about the size of a small pizza, partly bake, and freeze with freezer paper between them. Pull out of the freezer, thaw, top, and bake. It doesn't rise as much as you might like so if you insist on a puffy raised crust, make your pizza the day you make your Italian bread.

Even the dreaded croissant freezes well. Either freeze the dough, or do everything including the third roll-in of the butter and then freeze. Take out in the morning and thaw IN THE FRIDGE. The next morning, roll out, shape, rise, brush with egg-and-water glaze, and bake. I haven't tried this yet but my croissant recipe specifically says that it will work either way.

Cookies are great for freezing. There are online recipes for the equivalent of the cookie dough you usually buy in the store; look for "icebox cookies". Or, wait to freeze them until you bake them. Works with brownies, whether plain, frosted, with raisins and walnuts, or with cherries black-forest style.

And now for a hot weather treat which I discovered just in time. Keep bottled lemon juice in the house. Make up a batch of lemonade with equal parts lemon juice and sugar, and pour some of it into an ice cube tray. You can either eat them straight, or put them in a glass of plain water or sparkling water, to both chill and flavor it. This should also work with any fruit juice, just remember to sweeten lime or pomegranate juice a little.

It should also work with any drink that uses fruit juice, the way you freeze a daquiri so -- vodka lemonade, screwdrivers, tequila sunrise (although you lose the layers).

I wouldn't freeze fresh fruit, however. If you're going to that expense, eat it while it's fresh or make it into jam or pie.  Pillsbury says you can put together a fruit pie and then freeze it until you're ready to bake it, but put it in three layers of plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn.  Better Homes and Gardens says you can freeze a baked pie but use two layers of plastic wrap. We put too much plastic into our trash and it ends up in the ocean, so I say fuhgeddaboudit.

You'll realize what great ideas these are when you look at the ingredients on the pre-packaged frozen stuff like this. Once again, you will avoid obesity-causing amounts of sugar and fat and salt, harmful emulsifiers and other chemicals, if you just DIY.