Yes, you can let your bread rise overnight in the fridge. Keep in mind, though, you'll want the dough to come back up to room temperature before baking.
The benefits of the overnight rise go beyond flexibility. Long, slow fermentation in a cold environment leads to better, more nuanced flavor development in your bread. So you can save time and add flavor, all in one go.
When the dough is left to rise at room temperature, it typically takes two to four hours to double in size. Leaving this rise at room temperature for 12 hours may cause it to deflate slightly, but it will remain leavened. In some cases, it is best to leave the dough to rise overnight or to store it in the refrigerator.
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.
Tips for Proofing Bread Overnight
Overnight typically means about 12 hours. Some doughs can be proofed in the refrigerator for longer—up to a few days—but many recipes will lose some of their rise if they are left too long.
Doughs should be proofed at a warm room temperature, ideally between 75°F and 80°F. If your room is too cold, you can place the dough in a standard oven (that is off) with no pilot light and the oven light turned on, or in a microwave (also off) next to a bowl of very hot water.
The slower the rise the better the bread
This process happens quickly when the yeast is warm, so often people knead their bread dough and then let it sit in a warm spot for a few hours before baking, however, you can store your bread dough in the refrigerator instead, and it will taste all the better for it.
The dough should generally be proofed for around 1 to 4 hours at a warm temperature or overnight (or more) at a cold refrigerator temperature. As the proofing temperature increases, the total fermentation time will decrease.
After kneading, put the dough in a greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Punch the dough down after it's been in the fridge for 1 hour, then punch it down once every 24 hours after that. Dough will keep in the fridge for 3 days but it's best used within 48 hours.
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.
It's not desirable, and should be avoided if possible. That means that most kinds of dough cannot be left on the counter overnight, because the yeast will run out of sugar in less than 8 hours, and your dough will collapse.
But, the longer you leave the dough to rise, the longer you will give the yeast to work. This will make the bread bigger and fluffier. So, if you are trying to make your bread thick and fluffy, leaving it overnight is a great idea.
Because the dough is fermenting during both rises, if the process goes on for too long, the finished loaf of bread can have a sour, unpleasant taste. The finished loaf usually also has a dense texture and isn't sufficiently chewy. Over-proofed loaves of bread have a gummy or crumbly texture.
Over-proofing happens when dough has proofed too long and the air bubbles have popped. You'll know your dough is over-proofed if, when poked, it never springs back. To rescue over-proofed dough, press down on the dough to remove the gas, then reshape and reproof. (This method won't work for sourdough bread.)
Physically test your dough with the poke test
Lightly flour your finger and poke the dough down about 1". If the indent stays, it's ready to bake. If it pops back out, give it a bit more time. The poke test is especially helpful for free-form breads like cinnamon rolls.
You'll end up with a loaf that doesn't expand or bake well, and that is also misshapen and very sour. While some people (including us) like that biting flavor, others may find it too sour. Mistakes are inevitable when it comes to proofing bread, but there's no need to throw out dough if it proofs too long.
Properly proofed dough will be much more consistent in structure, with a soft and fluffy interior, and larger, but more evenly dispersed air bubbles present in the crumb. Over proofed bread is likely to have a very open crumb structure, due to the development of excess CO2 during the proofing stage.
If the dough was overproofed it would show very little movement and would possibly deflate a little. Underproofed dough would bounce back and wouldn't show much evidence of indentation.
Our go-to method for proofing bread when it's a bit cold inside is to pop the dough in the oven. And nope—you won't be turning it on! To proof bread in the oven, place a glass baking dish on the bottom rack of the oven and fill it with boiling water. Stash your dough on the middle or top rack and shut the door.
Temperature Guidelines
A universal temperature that works well for a wide variety of breads is 81°F (27°C). If you love simplicity, just set the Proofer to 81°F and know that it will work well for most breads. Sourdough works in a range of 70-85°F (21-30°C).
Instead of mixing dough, kneading it, waiting for it to rise and then baking it you just mix all the ingredients and leave it in the refrigerator to proof. Doing it this way takes longer, but it's all hands-off time. After 24 hours the dough is ready and you can use it to make loaves or rolls for up to two weeks.
The second rise is shorter than the primary fermentation after the bread loaf has been shaped and panned; usually taking only about half the time of the first rise at room temperature, or shorter for smaller loaves and rolls.
The best place to let dough rise is a very warm place. On a warm day, your counter will probably do just fine. But if your kitchen is cold, your oven is actually a great place.
Colder temperatures mean that yeast will work more slowly, and your bread dough may not rise. Whether you're using a sourdough starter or baker's yeast in your breads, read, and watch, on to get my top tips on how to get bread to rise in cold weather.