Can I Let The Old-Fashioned Sandwich Loaf Dough Rise Overnight In The Fridge?

Our answer

Nigella's Old-Fashioned Sandwich Loaf (from COOK, EAT, REPEAT) is a soft loaf with a fine, tender crumb. It is also low effort as requires very little kneading. The bread has two periods during which it rises. The first rise takes about an hour (depending on the room temperature) and the dough should double in bulk. During this period the gluten in the dough develops along with some flavour. After this, the dough is shaped and proved before it is baked. The bread is relatively speedy to make as it rises quickly thanks to the fast-acting yeast.

Doing an overnight rise is a bit tricky with fast-acting or instant (or bread machine) yeast as it works very quickly and there is a risk that the bread dough over ferments, even in the fridge. We would also mention that the bread may become slightly more chewy in texture as the glutens in the dough will have a longer time to develop. So it is not something we would paticularly recommend. If you did wish to try then you would probably need to reduce the amount of fast-action yeast used, we would guess to 1 - 1 1/4 teaspoons, or 3g. You should do the overnight rise in the fridge straight after the third kneading of the bread. The next morning, knock back or punch down the dough, shape it and put it in the greased tin. Leave the dough to prove again and bear in mind that this may take 2 hours or so, as the dough will be starting from cold and has less yeast, but keep an eye on it as it rises. Once it is ready, bake the bread as in the main recipe. Please note that as we have not tried this loaf with an overnight rise, we are unable to guarantee the results.