You most definitely can bulk ferment sourdough too long. If you leave the dough to ferment for too long, it will become "over fermented". Over fermented dough will lose its structure and become a soupy, sloppy mess that you will not be able to shape.
The dough will rise slowly overnight or up to 24 hours. Allowing the dough to remain longer in the refrigerator isn't beneficial, as an extended time in the refrigerator will lead to off flavors and diminished dough strength.
Ideally, you can proof sourdough in the fridge for up to 36 hours, or even longer if your dough will tolerate it. You don't want to have the gluten structure break down or for the dough to use up all of its energy before it hits the oven. This will result in poor oven spring.
Overproofed is when the dough has rested too long and the yeast has continued making carbon dioxide while the strength of the dough (gluten bonds) have begun to wear out. The dough will look very puffy, but when you touch it or move it you may notice it deflate or sag.
However, don't cut into it too fast! The loaf needs to cool outside of the Dutch oven for at least 30 minutes, and ideally more like two hours. When you pull the bread out of the oven, it is still baking inside. Cutting into a loaf too early will stop this process and result in a very gummy loaf.
While underworked dough can simply be fixed by a little more kneading, severely overworked dough cannot be fixed. Instead, the overworked dough will result in a hard loaf that will likely not be eaten. It's important not to overwork your dough and continually check for overworking throughout the kneading process.
Over-Kneading Dough
This is particularly good to do if you're new to baking or using a recipe you've never made before. If the dough feels very dense and tough when you knead it against the counter, that is a sign that it's starting to become over-kneaded.
We've actually left our bread in the refrigerator for up to 18 hours with no problems. When you're ready to bake, remove the shaped dough from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter while your oven preheats. Place it in the dutch oven, score it, and bake as usual.
Ideally, you don't want to allow sourdough bread to cold ferment for longer than 72 hours. Even up to 48 hours, you do risk some loss of gluten structure unless you manipulate the amount of starter down.
Sourdough bread can be time consuming to make, and it can be difficult to fit it all in in just one day. Leaving it to rise in the fridge overnight means you can just pop it into the oven the next morning. This can be handy if you don't want to spend all day in the kitchen, or simply need to go out during the day.
You can leave your starter out on your counter and just feed it every 12-24 hours. I do not use my starter every day. I use it a few times a week, so what I do is keep it in the refrigerator in a bowl with an airtight lid or glass lid.
What to look for in an over proofed loaf. Similar to the signs of over proofed dough, an over proofed loaf will be very flat, without much rise or retention of shaping. Over proofing destroys the structural integrity of the bread, so loaves that have gone over are unable to hold their shape in the oven.
The Dough Passes the Windowpane Test
To do this, tear off a chunk of dough and stretch it between your fingers. If the dough tears, you haven't developed enough gluten and it needs more kneading. If it stretches without breaking, making a windowpane of sorts, you're done and you can let the dough rest.
The longer you leave your dough in the refrigerator, the more sour and complex flavors it will develop. You can easily leave a loaf in the refrigerator for 3 days before baking. I've gone as long as 5 days, but you will see some deterioration of the loaf after Day 3.
The second proving has given the bread more elasticity, and made it harder to deflate the air. Second rises may add significantly to the total time it takes to complete a loaf of bread, but the step can be essential to achieving the taste and texture inherent to a number of popular breads.
Let rest in a warm spot to rise. The dough is ready when it no longer looks dense and has doubled in size. This can take anywhere from 3-12 hours depending on the temperature of your ingredients, the potency of your starter and surrounding environment.
You can leave the starter in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days at a time between feedings. We recommend feeding sourdough starter at least twice a week for best results. Remember, if you're planning to make bread on a given day, you'll feed sourdough starter the night before you bake.
You must discard some of your sourdough starter each time you feed it. You'll discover that discarding is necessary to build a healthy and thriving sourdough starter - but it's not actually as wasteful as you might think.
High temperatures can cause premature over fermentation, which will result in wet, sticky sourdough. You need to make sure that you keep your kitchen at a temperature between 24C - 28C (75F-82F). Alternatively, you'll need to adjust the amount of starter in your dough to suit the temperature of your kitchen.
If: The dough pops back out quickly – This means its under-proofed. The dough stays where it is – This means its over-proofed. The dough pops back out slowly and leaves a slight indentation – Perfect, your dough is ready!
If your sourdough is not rising during bulk fermentation at all, you might need to strengthen your sourdough starter. If you notice the dough is under proofed during preshaping or shaping, simply give it a longer bench rest.
Absolutely you can overcook sourdough bread. Just like yeasted bread, sourdough bread can be left in the oven too long. Overcooked sourdough bread will have a very hard, crunchy crust that is difficult to cut and bit through. The interior of overcooked sourdough bread will be drier than it should be.
Some types of crumb include: fool's crumb (a mix of very tight and big holes), honeycomb or lacy (evenly spaced and moderately open), and wild (a mix of moderate and very large holes).
Can I Use My Sourdough Starter Right After Feeding? It's not a good idea to use a sourdough starter right after feeding. Ideally you should wait at least 2-4 hours.
After 12–24 hours, you should see some activity in your starter (bubbles and increase in volume). Discard all but 50 grams of the starter. Add 50 grams each of the flour mix and water. Mix very well, cover loosely, adjust the rubber band if needed, and set aside as before.