Can I do bread rising overnight in the fridge?

ALIBOBSY

Ok at christmas I made a sort of pannetone/christmas loaf where you mixed it up (I used the kenwood and dough hook) kneeded and stuck in the fridge to rise slowly overnight. Next day you shape and rise again, then bake. It was delicious-got a bit left to have with a brew later or possibly a baileys (well an aldi version-it is crimbo lol).

But it was so easy to do, I could do the mix just after putting the youngest 2 to bed-DD2 who is 6 asks me everytime I go in the kitchen if we are baking lol and its just easier to do on my own. Banged it in the fridge overnight and mid morning when I got chance a quick shape and leave out, then back to bake later on.

What I am wondering is if the same method would work for any bread? Do I need to make the bread a bit wetter so to speak as this being an enriched dough was quite wet.

TBH it was so quick and easy and its the fact I could fit it around the kids that made it so. It would be great if I could make this work for other breads.

Ali x

crumblepie

Yes you can put it in the fridge. I've left bread to rise in a cold room before now not in the fridge it just takes longer to rise. Delia says you can too!

http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/bread/how-to-make-white-bread.html

zippychick

yeah i let mine prove in the fridge. Gives a better rise if i recall

Ill merge this with our proving thread later

Zip

bengal-stripe

Just put the dough in a pot/dish with enough space for it to rise and cover with cling-film to prevent the dough drying out (and developing a 'skin').

Enjoy your cake!

peachyprice

Well there's a coincidence! I put some dough in the fridge about an hour ago for the first time ever because I won't have time to make it in the morning, I'll update tomorrow how it goes.

I read elsewhere on the net that it's supposed to give much better flavour and texture, hopefully it's correct.

Callie22

A lot of bakers do this, and especially in the summer it is a great way of controlling how fast, and how much your dough rises. A longer, slower rise will also give you a much better flavour and you can get away with using less yeast and salt - one of the reasons why shop bread is generally so salty is because it only gets a very short rise, so the salt is added to give it some kind of flavour. The natural bread flavour that comes from a long, slow rise is always much better

The only thing to bear in mind is that it can take a lot longer for your dough to rise this way, especially if you have a lot of other stuff (like sugar or fat) in there too. But it's just a matter of planning ...

peachyprice

Just had a look at mine and it's definitely rising. Hope it doesn't rise too much before the morning :eek:

ALIBOBSY

Thanks for the replies guys, will have to give it a go then.

Ali x

peachyprice

So, I got my bread put of the fridge this morning, it hadn't risen quite as much as it does in my oven set at 35c, but still a decent rise.

I knocked it back and shaped it into rolls which I left on the side in the kitchen for the second rise. OH put them in the oven at 12.00. I probably would have left them a bit longer as they were a little smaller than usual.

But I have to say, the bread was delicious, much more 'rustic' with a great deep colour and lovely flavour. I'll definitely do it again, but perhaps when I'm going to be at home to supervise when they're ready to be baked

ALIBOBSY

Had a go last night, mixed up a basic white bread and stuck it in the fridge over night.

Knocked back this morning and its rising on the side at the mo-half in a small loaf tin, half shaped in a cob type loaf on a tray.

The rising seems to be a bit more long winded than normal, but I suppose the dough had to get to room temp from cold before much could happen anyway-will bake shortly and see what its like.

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

BTW just realised my packet of yeast was older than I thought-I used one I found in the cupboard rather than the new stuff I had, so newer yeast might rise quicker even in the fridge.

Ali x