Barb at King Arthur

March 5, 2021 at 9:54am

In reply to by maria (not verified)

Hi Maria, it is important for your dough to have adequate warm room temperature fermentation time before it goes in the refrigerator, so that fermentation will continue (albeit at a slower pace) in the refrigerator. Some recipes do call for part of that time to take place in the shaped form in the proofing basket, while other recipes allow you to put the shaped loaf directly in the fridge. As long as your dough is lively, airy and strong when you go to shape it, I don't think it makes that much difference if the dough rises in the basket before refrigeration or not. However, the proofing time post refrigeration isn't likely to accomplish quite the same thing, and may, indeed, make scoring and transferring the dough a bit more difficult. That being said, if you just don't feel that your dough looks ready to bake after refrigeration, an hour or two at room temperture may be helpful. Check out our No Knead Sourdough Bread recipe for a timeline that might work better for you on days when you're short on time the night before you plan to bake. 

Barb

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