The debate over letting dough rest overnight... my neighbor swears by it but I always forget.

So last Saturday at a bake sale in Austin, this woman named Carol told me her cinnamon rolls are twice as fluffy because she lets the dough sit in the fridge for 18 hours. I tried it once and got a weird texture, so now I'm stuck wondering if she's right or if it's just a placebo thing. Which side do you lean on with rest time... does it actually make that big a difference or is it overhyped?

2 comments

2 Comments

henrycooper6d ago

Did you maybe leave it out overnight instead of in the fridge? That would explain the weird texture. I'm with you though, I tried the whole "rest it forever" thing once and my dough came out like a sad, flat pancake. My neighbor swears by 24 hours in the fridge, but I think she just likes having an excuse to not bake till the next day.

willow1146d ago

Oh man, I gotta push back on this one a little. From what I've seen, overnight rest in the fridge is the real deal if you do it right. My friend bakes sourdough every weekend and she swears by a 12 to 16 hour cold ferment. The texture she gets is way more airy and the flavor has this nice tang to it. If yours turned out weird, maybe the dough was too wet or the yeast was old. That's happened to me before. Take this with a grain of salt though, every kitchen is different.