# Letting bread rise overnight?



## phantasie

Hi All.

First time poster, long time baker.

I'd like to a have a nicely risen ball of dough for tommorow morning so I can make sticky buns and a loaf of bread, without the mess up mising the dough (kneading, etc, along with making breakfast it wont be possible).

I'd like to knead the dough tongiht and let it rise overnight. I'll be using active yeast (not quick rise). Im guessing I should let the dough rise, covered, in a cooler lace - I was thinking my basement - which is around 19 degrees (hot here).
I would then punch down the dough and let it rise one last time in the morning for an hour or two afterI get up.

Is this going to work?

Thanks


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## m brown

You can form them, cover and retard the rise in the refrigerator overnight (this will give you a really nice flavor), in the morning let proof at room temp and bake.


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## stir it up

I would do the "first rise" or bulk fermentation of the dough on day 1, then when you're at the stage you would call "punch down", I would roll them out, fill them, slice them, however you do it, and put them into your prepared pans. Then put them in the fridge to do the second rise overnight. Usually works great. The warmest part of your fridge is best, commercial retarders are a little warmer than the average home fridge. 

If you're scared it won't work out, check on them right when you get up, and if they need to rise more you can take them out to proof at a warm room temperature. 

That will also save you the work and mess in the morning.

I think that's what m brown is telling you, I wasn't sure if brown meant two rises or just doing one, by the instructions as given.


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## m brown

yup,

measure/mise en place
mix/develop
bulk ferment/rest
punch/degas
rest
portion/scaling
rounding
bench rest
shape/pan * at this point you can final proof in the cooler
final proof
bake


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## shipscook

m brown, I am going to try it this way. I am a cook who bakes pretty good and always looking to improve.

However, I work crazy long hours on the ships, so at the end of the night I mix up my dough for cinnamon rolls, knead it and put in walkin overnight. Form it, let it rise, and bake it the next morning.

Interested in seeing what the difference is, will report back.

Thanks,
Nan


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## phantasie

Thanks all - makes sense. I was planning on forming the sticky buns tongiht, and letting the rise a second time in the pan in the frige overnight - which Ill do.


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## cwl

Hi guys, would letting the bread rise for the 1st time overnight in room temp make the dough turn bad the next morning ?

How many hours do you let the dough rise for the 1st time ?


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## boar_d_laze

Yeast is a living thing and forms colonies of living cells. At ordinary summer evening temperatures, the yeast would eat all the available food while it multiplied, then as it got tired, would start souring, and finally when the food was completely exhausted, die off. By the time you got to it the dough would be mostly collapsed and smell like sour beer. Not good. On the other hand, you can use this process to your advantage and make a poolish or a biga to put some tang and chew into your loaves. That's slightly more advanced baking. If you're interested, look at the Pumpernickel thread. Serious yum.

Good question young Padwan. The answer is: It isn't a question of time it's a question of activity. You want your dough to double (or slightly more) in volume before punching it down. You don't want it to much farther and you don't want it to go any less. How long this takes depends on a lot of things including how you handled the yeast to begin with, what strain of yeast, the room temperature, how the dough is kneaded, etc. Most bread recipes recommend an hour -- but I've had well-worked soft dough double as quickly as 20 minutes, and stiffer doughs mixed with cool liquids take as long as several hours for the first rise. The second rise will almost always be quicker. 

If you're getting unhappy with the "no good answer" song and dance I'm giving you, consider this: Times will vary with the same recipe using the same yeast at the same temperatures for no apparent reason. 

If you want to be a good baker who treats the process and the ingredients with respect, bakes ever better bread, blah, blah, blah, etc., you can't go anywhere, and you have to keep checking every twenty minutes or so to see what, if any, kind of progress you're getting. 

If you want to just cover it and leave it on the counter while you take a shower and get dressed -- you'll probably be okay with an hour. But don't say I didn't warn you. 

Enjoy,
BDL


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## cwl

:lol: Got it BDl !

Thank you for the advice on the bread making process, i will keep that in mind !


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