Frozen bread dough won't rise

[klmama]

I found some dough in the freezer, rolled into balls for buns last Christmas.  Oops!  I tried letting them rise, but they just spread instead.  It looks like a pan of undercooked sugar cookies, lol. Is there a way to salvage these?  Perhaps some other recipe that would benefit from the density? 

[KungFuPanda]

How old? It doesn’t last forever. 

[klmama]

Nine or ten months, I guess?  I decided to go ahead and bake them.  They are very dense, like biscuits, but they are still tasty.  Maybe I'll use them to make my own egg biscuits for breakfast.  

[bibiche]

In the future, try proofing it in a humid environment. I suspect the outer layer dried out and served as a sort of case, preventing the dough from rising. Without a proofing box, you could try spritzing it with water and then covering it with plastic (not touching the dough). 

Edited September 5, 2022 by bibiche

[VickiMNE]

Another option in the future is to use the dough for flat bread-type recipes:  pizza, naan, even crackers if you can roll the dough thin enough.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Probably too old. IME homemade yeast dough has a freezer life of about 3 months. Any longer than that and it wouldn’t rise for me. 

[klmama]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I have a few more balls in the freezer; I'll thaw and roll to see if I can make some crackers.

[mathnerd]

If it is savory (no sugar added), roll it flat and make a focaccia out of it (add olive oil, herbs, salt as toppings).

[Carol in Cal.]

WIth sourdough, I thaw it slowly in fridge, usually for at least 12 hours, and then deflate it, round it, and let it rise normally in the cool basement—normally meaning in a big bowl lined with a floured dish towel and covered with another dish towel.  That rise takes a long time of course, but a normal long time—8 hours at least but more doesn’t do any harm.  Then I bake it as usual in a preheated iron pot with a lid and it comes out indistinguishable from fresh.