24, 48 or 72 hours in the fridge – test plan
How long should a cold ferment be, and when does the dough start to fade? The plan for testing one dough after 24, 48 and 72 hours in a fridge at 4 °C.
Updated 13 september 2026
Results Planned
The experiment is planned. We will publish the measurements as soon as the runs are done — even if they contradict what we expected.
Method
Status: planned. This test has not been done yet. This page describes the set-up so that the method can be scrutinised before any results exist. Figures will be added here once the runs have been done and repeated – even if they contradict the hypothesis.
The question
The house method cold-ferments for 48 hours. Is that better than 24? And what happens at 72 – does the flavour get even better, or does the flour give up?
What we already know
Established baking science: long cold fermentation builds more flavour through enzymatic breakdown and slow fermentation, but the gluten weakens over time. How long a flour holds up depends on its strength. AVPN specifies a shorter total fermentation time than the house method’s 48 hours – that’s a deliberate deviation in the house method, not the AVPN standard.
Hypothesis
48 hours gives clearly more flavour than 24. At 72 hours the tipo 00 dough holds up, while a weaker supermarket plain flour becomes harder to handle.
How the test will be run
One large dough is divided into balls that are baked after 24, 48 and 72 hours. The fridge temperature is logged throughout. Flavour is judged blind by people who don’t know which dough is which.
Limitations
Taste is subjective, and a small group of tasters gives an indication – not a statistically robust answer.
Background: cold fermentation, fermentation, W value and how we test. All tests are listed under Tested.
