Tried cold fermenting vs. same-day dough for a full week, the difference is wild

So I finally ran a little experiment that took me 6 days because I wanted to see for myself if all the fridge talk on here was hype. I made two identical batches of ciabatta on Tuesday, one went straight to proof and bake that afternoon, the other sat in my fridge for 72 hours before I took it out. The cold fermented one had that deep, almost sour tang and the crumb had these big uneven holes that looked like something from a bakery in Portland. The same-day loaf was fine, good even, but it tasted flat and the texture was more like dense sandwich bread. I didn't change my flour or water or anything, just the timing and temperature. Honestly I'm kind of mad I waited this long to try it because now I can't go back. Has anyone else noticed that the cold dough is way easier to shape without sticking, or was that just my kitchen being weird that morning?

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derek_dixon781mo ago

Wait, you're telling me you got those big uneven holes on your very first cold ferment attempt? Because I've been doing this for months and I still get a tight crumb half the time, so either you're a natural or your kitchen fridge is doing something magical that mine isn't. That sour tang you're describing, yeah, that's the thing that hooked me too, it's like the dough develops a personality overnight that the same-day stuff just can't touch. And yes, the shaping thing is real, I think the cold butter or fat or whatever in the dough firms up enough that it stops being a sticky nightmare, it's not just your kitchen being weird. I remember my first cold ferment batch I was so scared I'd wreck it that I nearly left it in the fridge for a whole week out of pure anxiety, but it came out better than anything I'd made in two years of baking. So yeah, welcome to the club, you're probably gonna be one of those people who plans their bakes around their fridge schedule now, it's a slippery slope.