How to Fully Ferment Bread Dough in the Fridge | 100% Cold Fermentation Guide

Since I published all my cold fermentation instruction videos and all the cold fermentation comparisons, I have been getting the same question over and over. And that is whether we can both cold bulk ferment and then cold proof the same dough? So, to be clear we would mix the dough, then instantly refrigerate it until it has well fermented, then we would remove it from the fridge only to shape it and instantly place it back for cold final proofing. Once proofing is done the bread would be baked right from the fridge.

I had never thought of this, but it sounded like an interesting concept and a great challenge.

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[ChainBaker]

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[lottapossum]

Wow, CB - I tried this 100% cold ferm recipe and it came out exactly as you showed us. I used 0.8% yeast and had the same modest overproof. There is elegance in simplicity, and this is my new go-to bread recipe - great taste and low drama! I'm using King Somebody's bread flour here in the US, and 10% einkorn flour for the taste kick. Next loaf will be with reduced yeast for better proofing control. Can't wait!

[vanderbb]

Love cold bulk fermentation method! Baking fresh milled 100% WWF using 1.2 % yeast I fold dough 1 to 2 times a day depending on my work schedule. Fantastic flavor and texture after 3 days in fridge. Sweet slightly nutty flavor and moist crumb. Very easy on families stomach. This method is so flexible wish I new about this sooner. Thanks for all of the videos🙏 learning a lot.

[denaross]

It’s amazing what a difference the cold fermentation makes to the flavour and texture……it’s always part of my process now😊 I’ve typically cold proofed my sourdough up not yeasted…..so next round I will try both as well and see how it turns out

[shelleyhender]

You are such a JOY to watch my friend!
 
I have combined these methods for years…for the reasons YOU mentioned. I hope others will follow your example, and begin to experiment.

BLESS YOU for encouraging others!!🇨🇦☺🇨🇦

[macswanton]

This is a perfect approach to experiment with until you arrive at your own desired result. So much room for adjustments. I can see it fitting in to my daily routine easily

[koubenakombi]

Your concepts are solid! A must for any bread making lover. Thank you, Charlie!

[RowanClark-grcg]

Thanks for your efforts Charlie. I’m sure a lot of people would have enjoyed this one.

[pjamestx]

Very impressive! I've never seen anyone bake with the dough straight out of the fridge before. This will be very useful for me, I sometimes like to take a fresh loaf of bread to work with me, and I would usually have to get up very early to make that happen, this is great information!

[krabfingers]

Tried your method with my tangzhong milk bread rolls with some modifications, and it still came out great! I made the dough on Sunday, did 3 periods of folding, waited 30 minutes in between while it chilled in the fridge. I lightly greased the bowl before cold fermenting for 24 hours because it was quite sticky. I'm new to no knead doughs so when I pulled it out of the fridge to warm up I was shocked it seemingly kneaded itself and turned less sticky (could also be the tablespoon of oil I used for greasing the bowl)!

I divided it and shaped them on Monday, then placed it on my lined baking sheet for cold proofing. I used around 1% yeast so I cold proofed it for 12 hours overnight and 2 hours at room temperature in the morning on Tuesday. Baked it and it is delicious :)) Not sure if the taste improved but it's more convenient for me to space my bread making time over 3 days instead of doing it all in 1 day, which takes 5-6 hours. Major thanks for the video!

[citizen.insane]

You know I've been super excited for this concept. Thanks for posting!!

[mhouslay]

Another great and inspiring video. Can’t wait to try this out. Funnily enough, over the past few months I’ve been using cold fermentation / proofing for my pizzas and it’s been amazing - best tasting and form of any method I’ve tried. I started with overnight Poolish in the fridge, then 24h bulk and then 6-8h proving. Used OO for the main and a mixture of OO, rye and wholemeal for the Poolish. So less stressful doing it this way too. Thanks again for the inspiration. 👍😊

[scottpaul]

My interest in this method is because my refrigerator is at a much more constant temperature than my room temperature. I find room temperature proof times very hard to predict.

[swc]

Thank you for this great video. You have answered the questions I've been mulling over. I will be starting some sandwich bread today using these two methods.

[Hoodooandspices]

Okay this is actually life changing, i’m always stressed because before ai always thought i could only bake on weekends because room temp proofing and bulk fermentation takes a whole day…thank you so much! This is so cool i cant wait to make bread during the work week

[annsfrench]

I love this idea! It just takes a bit of forethought but very little time on parts of three days! I’ll be trying it. 😊

[HittokiriBatosai]

Interesting. I read in a blog that trying to do both in the fridge will make the yeast work less than optimally. And that turned out to be true the one time I was trying to make pizza with a cold proofed dough that I had to abandon in the middle. So I topped it, covered it and put it back in the fridge for 8 hours or so. Crust baked up flat as a cracker. Never tried it again, but now you've got me wanting to experiment.

[fernforest]

Thank you, I was excited to see this video since I have been experimenting with both methods together over the past couple weeks. My efforts have not been entirely successful though. First, to try your recipes I had to switch from measuring with cups and teaspoons to measuring by weight. That was a little scary, honestly, leaving the security of the familiar tools to fully trust in a scale that could have a dead battery any day and then I would be stuck. I have been attempting to make daily sandwich loafs of five-day cold fermented 100% freshly ground whole wheat unenriched dough, but it hasn’t been turning out all that well. I probably need to continue adjusting amounts of yeast and water (you don’t have a recipe for exactly what I am attempting, so I have tried to figure it out). And I am cold proofing and baking in a glass loaf pan, which I don’t see you use. I’m glad to see in this video you used enriched dough, which was hesitant to try for 5-day cold fermentation, not knowing how the ingredients will affect the dough sitting in the fridge awhile. So I think I will take a step back and try to master a 2-3 day cold fermentation with enrichment before aiming at 5 days. It seems like maybe the gluten is just too weak by 4-5 days, I don’t know if that has something to do with using 100% whole wheat, or maybe too little yeast or too much water.

[JeffO-]

I would love to see a video comparing white whole wheat (hard white wheat), regular whole wheat (hard red wheat), and whole wheat pastry flour (soft white wheat). I wonder if you ever use white whole wheat. I don't remember it being mentioned. (These are widely available in the US, anyway.) Great video here. Great that you did three types of bread.

[rogeres]

Your programs on bread making are amazing The information is incredible Thank you so much