Can you refrigerate raised dough

Be sure that the dough is completely airtight or the moisture will be pulled from the surface of the dough. The process of refrigerating your dough is very easy once you have everything on hand. It really is that easy. If you notice that it gets to double in size very fast, you may want to punch it down and allow it to rise again. Some believe the misconception that putting dough into the fridge stops the rise completely.

This is understandable since so many beginner recipes imply that dough can only rise in warm environments. Dough can be put in the refrigerator before it has risen. The cold temperature only slows the rise rather than stopping it completely. Your dough will rise completely within hours depending on how much yeast you use and the temperature of your refrigerator. You can go straight from kneading your dough to proofing it in the fridge if you want.

Dough can be placed into the fridge to drastically slow the rise once it has fully risen. Chill the dough as fast as possible for the best results. This is best done with a small volume of dough. When working with a large volume of dough, it will still likely continue to rise in the fridge since it will take a while for the center to chill completely. This can cause the dough to overproof, so you should make sure to only refrigerate small quantities of dough. Just to add to other answers, it's often easier to refrigerate for the first proof.

That is: mix, refrigerate for a "first rise" from a few hours to a few days , then remove from fridge, shape, and then let rise the second time until read to bake. The second rise can take anywhere from an hour to a few hours, depending on amount and activity of yeast. It is possible to shape loaves before refrigeration, but it's more likely to produce an uneven rise or misshapen loaves. It can also be more difficult to judge when to bake, since the center of a large loaf will warm much more slowly after removed from the fridge.

If you shape after refrigeration, you can fold the dough a few times periodically to redistribute the heat and warm the loaf throughout more quickly. To answer the other part of the question about letting it "sit on the counter," that depends on your room temperature, how fast the dough rises, and other things. If you try this, you should generally be prepared to de-gas and shape the dough after the long rise, doing your final rise right before baking. Otherwise, an overproofed dough could collapse during baking.

If you're just adding an extra hour or something to the rise time, this is unlikely to cause problems. If you need to let it sit on the counter for longer and the room is warm, you'll need to decrease the yeast content in the recipe.

I've refrigerated bread dough numerous times, up to two or three days. Just let it get to room temperature before baking. While hot temperatures kill yeast, it does survive at low ones.

Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. It will continue to slowly prove for the duration of the time it is in the refrigerator. Therefore, we recommend that you refrigerate your bread dough for a maximum of three days, and preferably not more than two.

Within two days, your bread should still be in a mostly similar state when you first put it in the refrigerator. However, we strongly recommend against refrigerating your dough after a second rise.

And as always, ensure the container is tightly sealed. Refrigerating your bread dough hasbenefits. Some bakers swear by it, as it can result in improved taste and texture. And, of course, refrigeration can save dough from over-proving. However, failing to bake your dough immediately after the first rise certainly poses some risk.