Let yeast dough rise in the fridge
If you want to get a head-start on your baking, letting your bread or roll dough rise in the fridge overnight can be a huge help. Chilling the dough will slow down the yeast activity, but it doesn’t stop it completely.
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.
My bread always has a hard crust how can I ensure it is soft ?
If I leave the dough to rise overnight in the fridge to I just knead it and let it rise at room temperature as usual the next day ?
I find that butter content determine the hardness of my crust. For example I have used the Japanese Milk Bread recipe to make rolls and it has a much softer outside (and inside) than other loaves I have made. The difference I can see is that it has a much higher butter content than I have seen in other recipes (besides the milk/flour mixture you add in).
To keep crusts from hardening place a cloth over the loaf after it comes out of the oven until it cools off.
The Japanese milk-bread method [Tangzhou] makes a softer loaf because of the chemical changes when the water and flour are heated together. There is information about this online. Many recipes can be made with this method but it’s suitable only for bread and rolls that you want to be soft and fluffy.
if I let my dough rise overnight in the fridge, do I need to bring it to room temp to work with it the next day?
Yes, I usually let it sit out for 30-60 minutes before trying to work with it.
Hi, after the dough has been in the fridge overnight do you punch it down then let it come to room temperature before rolling it out?
I hope I didn’t ruin mine, I refrigerated after kneading but never punch it down until removing from the fridge. Now it’s coming to room temp. I should’ve read this first. Great name by the way. 😜