Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies - Post Freezing Baking Issue. SO bready!

Made the dough in December, rested for 36 hours, baked off a few to test... Excellent! Spread out, chewy, right chew to crispy outside balance. At 48 hours, froze remaining dough into individual balls wrapped in plastic wrap.

Had people over last night, so I thought to bake off cookies. Multiple types including this one. Turned out the opposite from previous bake : bready, no chew at all. Tried 1. baking straight from the freezer 2. completely defrosted and softened on counter top 3. defrosted in fridge, but still hard.

All three turned out, technically, well baked - golden brown edges, lightly golden brown bottoms, out of the oven still looking underdone. After cooling for a bit though... just SO bready. Not a single bit of chew. They also did not spread out, and instead puffed up.

Is this a over resting fresh raw dough issue (48 hours versus 36 hours, even though the recipe says 72 hours is fine), a baking issue, or a freezing issue? For other reference - the other cookies I baked yesterday, that were also previously frozen raw, baked off with minimal to no issues as if they were fresh dough. I've heard other people have had excellent success with this cookie being frozen, but then I read a comment by David Leite who also helped popularize Jacques Torres' recipe, and he said he did not care for the texture of the cookie once frozen and then baked.

E
  • Posted by: E
  • January 15, 2017
  • 6455 views
  • 8 Comments

8 Comments

PieceOfLayerCake January 18, 2017
Doesn't this recipe have bread flour in it? I'm not entirely sure about cookies, but a long hydration process in bread can lead to massive gluten development on its own, without working the dough at all. If you plan on freezing them, you may want to forgo the combo flour and just try AP...or even half AP and half cake. I've never had trouble freezing cookie dough, but I've only made this particular recipe fresh.
 
BerryBaby January 15, 2017
If you handle cookie dough too much this can happen . I have had great success with this recipe and freezing it. I heat the oven to 400, place frozen balls on Silpat lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Perfect everytime.
 
E January 16, 2017
I don't think it was a handling the dough too much issue, as they baked off fine when they were fresh, raw dough. Given I used $30 of chocolate on these cookies, I'm going to leave it to the professionals from now on, and just buy the cookies straight from the Jacques Torres store now, lol. I'm glad the dough works for you though!! :)
 
BerryBaby January 17, 2017
Or it could be that I froze it right after making it? Really don't know. Give it another try and freeze it right after making it and see if that makes a difference. Just a thought. BB
 
Shuna L. January 15, 2017
Hello E,

Without seeing the recipe/ratio, I'd say a few things - it's best to store frozen cookie dough in a "tupperware" of some sort. At home I use glass because it keeps in the most moisture, and keeps out the most freezer smells, and freezer burn issues diminish.

Home freezers can be tricky. They fluctuate in temperature quite a bit. And, yes, not all doughs like the freezer. Doughs that love the freezer, tend to be high in butter. I have never felt that chocolate chip cookies need to live in the freezer, they do just fine staying put in the fridge.

It sounds like the flour in the dough just kept hydrating itself, drying the final product too much.

If you like chew, make these changes to the "Tollhouse" recipe: use dark brown sugar instead of light brown. Cane sugar is better than beet sugar. If you want them really really chewy, substitute 1/2 of the white sugar in the recipe with more dk. brown. Make sure your baking soda is fresh, and sift it into dries. It only needs to rest 24hours, but baking them straight is never a bad idea either..
 
E January 16, 2017
Thanks! This is the recipe if you want to look the the proportions : https://food52.com/recipes/47796-jacques-torres-chocolate-chip-cookies

I agree, I think the dough hydrated itself too much, and so I don't think it'll bake up the way it did when it was fresh. :( Oh well, lesson learned.
 
Smaug January 15, 2017
Part of the problem could be wrapping them in plastic wrap, which isn't a very good moisture barrier- you really need thicker plastic (such as freezer bags) to avoid admitting excess moisture. Can't see it causaing your whole problem, though- I've never made the recipe (and likely won't) but it is a very high percentage of flour and leavening to shortening, and the use of bread flour is at the least peculiar.
 
E January 16, 2017
Thanks! Yeah, I agree re: the bread flour. In all honesty, the cookies backed off really well before being frozen so I felt like the bread flour might've done something positive for the cookie texture. But after freezing/maybe it rested too long and absorbed too much liquid, the baked product tastes like a crumbly bread roll.

Re: plastic wrap - I wrapped the cookies in plastic wrap when I was aging the dough in the fridge, since the dough itself was too hard to scoop when out of the fridge. After looking through the comments of both the Food52 and David Leite recipe, I saw people had success by individually wrapping the cookies. So then after, I stored them in a freezer bag. Not sure if that makes any difference in what you're suggesting though.

Thanks, I really appreciate your feedback! I think I'm going to stick with buying the cookies straight from the Jacques Torres shop from now on.
 
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