Why Refrigerate Yeast Doughs

Bread dough will rise in the fridge, and it often makes sense to consider the fridge as your friend when you are making bread. This slow refrigerated rise is referred to as "cold fermentation" and has many benefits ranging from flexibility to flavor.

It can be a huge help as it makes bread making easy to fit into your day. When you put your dough in the fridge it slows the yeast activity down. It takes ten times longer for dough to rise in the fridge than it does at room temperature. This means you can put your dough in the fridge overnight or whilst you are at work and come back to it when you are ready.

Plus, putting your dough, whether yeasted or sourdough, in the fridge will help it to develop a better flavour and texture. The longer the dough ferments the more chance of bacteria and enzymes getting to work and unlocking the flavours in the wheat. Slowing fermentation down by using the fridge helps to give the dough time to develop more complex flavours without over proving, as it would at room temperature.

You can incorporate this chilling technique into just about any bread recipe. Most bread recipes have two rises, a first rise (also called bulk fermentation), and a second or final rise. You can chill your dough during either the first or second rise. Your yeast won’t give you much love if it’s asked to do both rises in the fridge, so it’s best to do one or the other at room temperature.

Commercial Yeast Doughs

If you are making a dough with commercial yeast (easy bake/ fast action/ instant, active dried or fresh) you can mix your dough and develop it using the stretch and fold method or by kneading or using your stand mixer and then pop it in the fridge to rise slowly. It will take several hours to rise and become full of honeycomb bubbles.

If it fits better with your day ahead you can leave your dough to bulk ferment at room temperature for an hour or two, then when its risen and full of air, shape it and pop it the fridge to do its second rise as a shaped loaf. You can then preheat the oven and bake the loaf straight from the fridge, or if it has not quite completed it second rise, let it rise a little longer at room temperature and then bake. Baking your loaf from cold can help improve oven spring.

If you intend to put your yeasted dough in the fridge overnight, always use cool water to mix it in the first place. This way you can be sure that it will develop slowly from the start and not over-ferment in the fridge overnight. If it does rise too much overnight after it had been shaped the previous evening, you can reshape it and wait for it to rise again.

Sourdough - Wild Yeast

If you are making a sourdough remember that the wild yeast is slower than commercial yeast to work on rising the dough. It helps to keep the dough at room temperature for the first few hours so that the yeast has time to work before you cool it down. I tend to let my sourdough rise for the first time at room temperature, shape it, leave it at room temperature for about an hour and then pop in the fridge overnight. In the morning I check if it is ready to bake straight away or if it needs more time to prove at room temperature. Every baker finds a schedule or method that works for them though so experiment with what works best for you. Once the oven is preheated, you can bake the sourdough straight from the fridge as long as the dough does not need further proofing.

If you are making sourdough and intend to put it in the fridge then use warm water to make sure the yeast gets going and fermentation has a head start before putting it in the fridge.

Dough that has been proofed in the fridge has a more complex, sourer flavor than room temperature proofed dough. When the bread is proofing at room temperature, the dough develops faster than the flavor, by slowing it down and proofing in the fridge, we are allowing the flavor to develop in time with the dough. This is a direct result of the temperature slowing down the yeast’s fermentation activity, but the bacteria in the starter are less dependent on the temperature and they are able to continue breaking down starches into lactic and acetic acids, giving us a boost of that sour tang we can’t get enough of!

Cover the Dough Well

Cover your dough well before putting it in the fridge to stop a crust forming. A hard crust can prevent dough from rising to its full potential. Use oiled clingfilm, or a large plastic bag inflated over the top, or a larger bowl over the top to make sure that the crust stays moist in the dry atmosphere of the fridge.