I bet this recipe will do very well in the refrigerator. I would spray a sheet of plastic wrap with vegetable spray and tuck it over the dough to help maintain the moisture in the dough. Another way to keep moisture in is to place the dough inside a 2-gallon zip-lock bag and press out as much air from the bag as possible before closing it.

If you find the dough gets a little dry, add some mashed potatoes (or potato flakes) to the recipe, and I think you will be good to go.

In "The Baking Book" the author and microbiologiest, Lloyd M. Moxon, who specializes in yeast biochemistry explains why. "Mashed potatoes - or any pureed vegetable - is vital for refrigerator doughs because it preserves moisture in the dry climate of the refrigerator." Adding mashed potatoes was quite common for refrigerator recipes - Betty Crocker's Refrigerator Bread Recipe is a classic, and it includes mashed potatoes.

What happens to refrigerated dough... Retarding dough in the refrigerator has a few up-sides. The bacteria will produce some tasty acids so the flavor is enhanced. While the yeast is dormant and no longer consuming the sugars, the bacteria feeds on them and you'll get more complex flavors. Chilling the dough will probably result in a slightly more open texture.

But on the down-side, it also may reduce the ovenspring and the loaf volume. There is "trick" I found in "CookWise" by Shirley O. Corriher, you can do if you find the loaf volume is smaller than normal and would like more volume. After chilling the dough, you can dissolve a little yeast (1/2 t.) in a few tablespoons of warm water and knead this into the dough before shaping.

Another thing you may notice, the bread won't be as dark brown and the whole wheat flavor more mild. That's a characteristic from the long hydration time.

Let us know how it goes....

-Grainlady

Grainlady - thank you so much! I was hoping the answer would be Yes, but I worried the richness of the bread might prevent refrigeration. This is great!

Thanks for the tips and for an interesting read, as usual.

Here in Israel the weekend is Friday-Saturday. Today is the first workday of the week. Next weekend I'll do as you advised, and Monday/Tuesday week I'll be able to tell you how it went.

Update: It didn't go well at all. I made a double batch Saturday morning, baked half of it straight away, and tucked the other half in the fridge, in a lightly oiled bowl. I lightly oiled the surface of the dough ball and covered the bowl with clingfilm. It rose a second time in the fridge.

Yesterday evening I took it out. It didn't smell good. The fresh dough always smells so delicious I have to keep myself from pinching a lump and eating it raw, but the fridge dough smelt like it was going off. Not rancid, just unpleasant. I shaped it into a log, placed in loaf pan, let it rise 2 hours. It didn't double its size, whereas the fresh dough more than doubles its size, but that wasn't as important as the smell of it.

Baking didn't improve the smell. The taste wasn't pleasing either. I wouldn't have minded the dense texture, but the thing just wasn't edible.

I've already made KAF No Knead Crusty White Bread, where the recipe says it keeps in the fridge for up to 7 days (I baked the second loaf after 6 days in the fridge). That one went very well. It doubled it's size, tasted good, but the wholewheat dough went bad after two and a half days. I guess that's why KAF don't say the wholewheat dough keeps well in the fridge, unlike the lean crusty white bread. I wonder if it's the milk powder (not lean, but whole cream).

I'll have to live on oat farls till Friday (oats already soaking in fridge for this evening's baking). Thanks again for the oat farls recipe, Grainlady. There are far worse fates than subsisting on oat farls :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Lean Bread

I keep enriched (butter, eggs, sugar) dough in an unoiled dough bucket in the fridge for up to 5 days. I use the ArtisanBreadinFive.com system for challah. Yes, five days.

If the dough container is unoiled then, in theory, the dough climbs up the sides better. This thought is sometimes attributed to french competitive bakers. I'm a 4 year old novice.

Westsider, the dough climbed up all right in the fridge. It was when I took it out of the fridge and punched the air out of it that it went into a state of shock and kept a low profile.

But the rising wasn't the real problem. The real problem was the off taste. I don't mind eating cement as long as it tastes good.

Your challah recipe is rich indeed, but it doesn't include my prime suspect: milk powder. But then I'm just a 4 MONTH old novice, so maybe i'm suspecting the wrong ingredient?