Submitted by oskar270 on March 19, 2010 - 7:53am

Dough in the Fridge

Into my 12th bread baking and so far the results have been very satisfying and exciting

So I thought to try this French Country bread recipe which calls to have the dough into the fridge for 2 to 24 hours. I was curious to see what the fridge will do to the dough

Besides the all purpose flour and water, the recipe calls for 1/3 cup instant dry milk powder, 2 envelops of Fleischmann's rapid rise yeast, 1/2 cup plain yogurt and 3 tablespoons vegetable oil.

I have no experience but thought the dough should rise after 24 hours in the fridge (covered with a plastic bag but not sealed) but it did not rise at all.

Is the purpose of having the dough in the fridge to let it rise slowly or what?

 

Filed under:

Dough in the fridge

Yes - to let it rise slowly so that the yeast can develop a more full flavor. 

Bread that rises quickly is good - but the more time you can give the yeast to develop flavor without sacrificing the gluten the better.  If you go too long - the bread will go soppy, since the gluten is overdone.

 

 

The best selling book Artisan

The best selling book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is based on keeping a large batch of dough in the refrigerator for a couple weeks at a time. When you want to make a pizza, bake a loaf of bread, or make some fresh Pita Bread you just tear off a grapefruit size piece of dough.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/5389/artisan-bread-five-minutes-day-discovery-revolutionizes-home-baking

It's a book worth having and some of their techniques do work very well.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.