Cold Start Sourdough Bread with Overnight Dough (2024)

FAQs

Can you leave sourdough dough overnight? ›

Can You Let Sourdough Bread Rise Overnight? You can absolutely leave sourdough bread to rise overnight - but as always - there are some things you'll need to do to make sure that your bread is successful with an overnight ferment.

It's possible - but you really shouldn't. While it might seem convenient to bake with a cold starter, for consistently delicious sourdough bread, it's better not to use your starter straight from the fridge.

12) Cold Start Method – I've tested Elaine Boddy's “cold start” method a few times. In this method you load your cold dough into a cold Dutch oven into the cold oven and bake at 450F/232C for 55 minutes with the lid on and 5-10 minutes with the lid off. This method worked well in my setting.

Can I leave my starter out overnight after feeding it? Yes, if you have just fed it. Since the night is rather long, feed it in a 1:4:4 ratio so that's not over fermented by the morning. If for example you use a 1:1:1 ratio, the starter would have peaked in the middle of the night, and collapse by the morning.

Retarding bread dough (proofing at cold temperature)

I often proof my sourdough bread dough in the refrigerator overnight because I find the baking schedule easier for the home baker. But in addition, I love the depth of flavor a long, cold fermentation brings to the final bread.

The longer you leave your dough in the refrigerator, the more sour and complex flavors it will develop. You can easily leave a loaf in the refrigerator for 3 days before baking.

However, the cold temperatures of a refrigerator (usually around 38°F/3°C) result in a sluggish starter that needs a few feedings to regain full strength. Instead of keeping your starter at super cold refrigerator temperatures, the Sourdough Home can be set to 44-48°F (6-8°C), which is cold but not too cold.

Can you bake sourdough straight from the fridge? Yes! In fact it's best practice to take your dough from the fridge, score it and pop it straight into a hot Dutch Oven. The cold dough and hot Dutch Oven combination equals maximum oven spring.

Ideally, you don't want to allow sourdough bread to cold ferment for longer than 72 hours. Even up to 48 hours, you do risk some loss of gluten structure unless you manipulate the amount of starter down.

put the dough into the cold baking vessel and score; put the pot with the dough in into the cold oven, with the lid on; turn the oven on, turn the heat up to 220C/425F fan/convection or 230C/450F non fan/convention. Total time in the oven 55-60 mins.

How do you wake up a cold sourdough starter? ›

To revive, take your jar out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for an hour or two to warm up. The mixture may or may not be bubbly like mine below, but either way, stir it so everything is reincorporated.

Cold proofing sourdough involves placing it in the refrigerator for an extended period, normally over 5 hours and up to 48 hours. Over several hours the dough slowly decreases in temperature and extends the final part of the fermentation process.

If you think you killed your starter with heat, always use a probe thermometer to take the temperature in the center of the starter. If it is below 130F/54C it is still alive, even if it was exposed to a higher oven temperature for a short time.

I wouldn't go more than 24 hours without feeding a very young sourdough starter (it may survive longer than this unfed however you will leave it open to the risk of mold). Mature sourdough starter aged more than 6 months old should be able to survive unfed on the counter for around 3-4 days without any risk of mold.

Covering your sourdough starter jar to prevent fruit flies or other foreign debris from falling inside is a good idea. When covering, I recommend using a lid that doesn't fasten tightly so that excess gasses produced during fermentation can escape.

Yeasted bread can over proof in the fridge if you let it rise for too long. If you don't watch the clock carefully, baker's yeast will puff up the dough to its max and the dough will begin to deflate. Sourdough bread, on the other hand, can easily be left in the fridge for 8-24 hours during the second rise.

If you over-ferment the dough you run the risk of the gluten structure degrading and the loaf turning into a puddle of goo before your eyes, never to be retrieved and destined for the bin.

To proof them, let them sit, covered, at room temperature for up to 3–4 hours, or let them proof for a little while at room temperature and then place in the refrigerator for 12–15 hours.

The dough should be left to expand enough to give us a nicely textured crumb and a loaf that “springs” in the oven. Leave it too long and you run the risk of over proofing resulting in the dough deflating. I wanted to have a look and see how different stages of proofing affect the loaf, especially the crumb.