Could someone please explain why we leave the dough in the refrigerator over night before baking. I have just started baking sour dough bread and find that some recipes are optional as to whether they are cooked without refrigeration but the spelt dough recipe said to leave it over night before baking. Thank you.
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Hello ruthie,
One reason is just to slow things down so that you can get the bread making to fit your life-style (like having to go to work and only able to prepare/bake at night) or to produce bread at a more suitable time eg warm crusty bread for breakfast/lunch.
The other reason is to produce a more flavoursome product. As I understand it, the yeast activity is slowed more than the bacterial so the bacteria get time to produce more acids before the yeast runs out of puff.
Just because the method associated with a recipe specifies retardation, it does not mean that it is an absolute essential step and conversely a method that does not include retardation can quite safely have one applied, if necessary, for whatever reason.
Hope this helps and good luck with your projects.
Farinam
Thank you Farinam. Great to get help so quickly .Ruthie
Refridgerating for 12 to 36 hours accomplishes time saving. First, you don't have to build your day around a rise that will take a few hours to half a day. Second, a final rise is unnecessary. You can take the shaped dough directly from the fridge to the heated oven. This modern miracleallows one to work or proceed with one's day in a way that permits one to ignore the dough a bit.