Which dough will you bake?
Example result · Big batch trap
Too much yeast for this schedule
You'd reach 135% at bake. The core stays warm for 8.4h in the fridge.
Your recipe, step by step
Open a step, answer, then tap Next. Closed steps read like a recipe.
- 3000 g260 g → 12Recommended fresh yeast15.8 g · 0.91%1.23% · 21.2 g
- → Bake · 20.0h
The hours your fridge can't skip
On the chart, dashed lines are what a naive calculator assumes (dough instantly at fridge temperature). Solid lines follow the real dough core, which cools slowly and keeps fermenting.
Cold fridge. Still-warm dough.
Cooling, fermentation and gluten strength — modeled together.
Fermenting dough is a poor thermal conductor (k ≈ 0.42 W/m·K) because trapped CO₂ micro-bubbles insulate it. Core temperature T(t) lags behind ambient T_env.
Surface-to-volume scales with M^(-1/3) and conduction path with M^(1/3), so doubling dough mass stretches cooling time by roughly 1.58×.
Leavening (yeast CO₂) and maturation (protease and amylase breaking down proteins and starch) follow different temperature sensitivities.
R_protease(T) ∝ Hyd_factor · 1.65^((T - 20)/10)
At 4°C yeast drops to ~6% of its 20°C rate while proteases stay at ~15–18%. Over 48h with high hydration and weak flour, enzymes tear the gluten before the dough even looks overinflated.
In the first dough (no salt) yeast multiplies logistically. At refresh, temperature jumps by heat balance of first dough, new flour and water (plus mixer friction), 88% of the gas is knocked out, and gluten is averaged between matured and fresh flour.
Gluten⁺ = f_pre · Gluten⁻ + (1 − f_pre) · 100
It also runs backwards: given the first dough, the simulator computes the water temperature to close at 24°C. First-dough yeast is found by bisection.
Blend strength is the share-weighted W of your flours; with a pre-ferment it becomes fPre·W₁ + (1−fPre)·W₂ after refresh. Shaping knocks out part of the gas (72/55/35% kept), briefly tightens gluten and, from then on, each ball cools or warms with its own small mass.
Gas⁺ = η_shape · Gas⁻ (η = 0.72 / 0.55 / 0.35)
Water balance: refresh water = F_tot·(H_tot − f_pre·H_pre). If H_tot < f_pre·H_pre the combination is impossible and the simulator flags it.
About & limitations
- • This is a simplified numerical model, not lab-grade truth. Constants were calibrated against a handful of probe measurements in home fridges and plastic containers.
- • Real fridges cycle, doors open, and flours vary a lot. Use the output as a starting point, then adjust to your own bakes.
- • Your settings stay in your browser. No account, no tracking of your recipes.