Hi Lara, a brief stop in the refrigerator will likely just cool down the dough a bit, and you can continue the rise at room temperature, if necessary. Depending on how warm the dough is when it goes into the refrigerator, it may rise significantly before the dough is chilled completely, so generally it's much more concerning to leave the dough in there too long. In other words, there's not really a minimum time to leave your dough in the refrigerator. In your example, since you're going to be gone for 3 hours, I would leave your dough in the refrigerator for the entire time you're gone, and then, depending on how the dough is risen and how cold it is, you can proceed from there. Chances are your dough will have risen significantly, but may be quite cool, so you may want to do a loose preshape in disk form on a floured work surface. Cover the dough and let it rest for 45 minutes to an hour before doing the final shape. This rest at room temperature will allow the dough to warm up a bit and will help make for a more even final rise. 

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