Resting Cookie Dough: a semi-scientific question

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

I make the Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe as posted by The Crepes of Wrath. The dough must rest for at least 24 hours. In the past when I've made the cookies, after taking the dough from the fridge it has taken A LONG TIME for the dough to become soft enough for me to portion it into cookies (I use a #40 portioner).

Instead of putting the whole bowl of cookie dough in the fridge, can I portion it while it is still soft from mixing, then allow it to rest for 24 hours? If I do portion first, then rest, do I need to do anything to make sure the dough doesn't dry out too much? Maybe damp paper towels over the cookies then wrap the whole tray in plastic wrap?

Featured Answer

grainlady_ks

10 years ago

There is a LOT of science on this subject of chilling cookie dough in the refrigerator. When you leave the dough in one total amount (bowl, plastic bag, etc.) there are a lot of interesting things that happen, and results because of them.

-The flavors have a chance meld together.

-The flour has a chance to hydrate.

-The fat has a chance to solidify.

-You will get a darker color because the sugars (which are hygroscopic) have a chance to absorb liquid, leading to more Maillard Reaction (browning) when baked.

-There are also changes to the texture of the dough. Chill it too long and it will dry out. The drier the dough, the more concentrated the sugar will be; which can mean the higher percentage of sugar can make that soft texture attribute turn to chewy or crispy.

-If you make the dough balls in advance (which is a good choice), rather than chilling the whole recipe of dough in the bowl/bag, you won't require as long in the refrigerator because of the smaller amount of dough. The longer you chill the dough balls, the more you risk the dough drying out - especially in a frost-free refrigerator - which is a naturally dry environment. So shorten the time when you chill the dough in small portions.

-Be sure to cover the dough or portioned balls well so they don't absorb any odors from other items in the refrigerator. Be mindful not to store potentially smelly foods in the refrigerator the same day you are chilling your cookie dough. [As an aside, be sure to taste a fleck of any butter you are using in cookies. If you happen to store a strong-flavored food close to where the butter was stored, it can absorb the odor and affect the flavor of the butter. I once judged a "perfect" cookie, until I tasted it. It tasted like onions, which had been stored, cut and uncovered, in the refrigerator next to the butter she used to make the "perfect" cookies.]

-Even as little as 30-minutes in the refrigerator can make a difference. You'll get more browning and less spread the longer you chill the dough. As the dough dries out even more, the longer you chill them, you'll get more concentrated flavors.

-Chilling also allows the gluten to relax. Too much gluten development in cookies = tough cookies, so the chilling will aid in preventing that.

-Due to the presence of raw eggs in dough, refrigerator dough can also become a place for bacteria to grow, especially if you don't have a refrigerator that keeps the temperature colder than 40°F. Refrigeration only slows down bacteria growth, it doesn't prevent it. So it will be important to make sure you don't add large amounts of warm/hot foods to the refrigerator because it will cause the temperature to warm to an unsafe food temperature for a prolonged period of time. It takes a long time for the internal temperature at the core of a large portion of dough to reach a food-safe temperature colder than 40°F, so I would suggest dividing the dough either into smaller portions like cloudy_christine suggested above, or into individual portions. And definitely, don't be sampling the raw dough if you have it refrigerated for several days just because of an increased risk of bacteria growth due to raw eggs and potentially poor temperature control.

-Grainlady

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Comments (6)

cloudy_christine
10 years ago
I haven't made the recipe, but I do chill cookie dough. Don't chill it in the bowl. Dump it out onto plastic wrap, in several big lumps or logs. Wrap each separately. When you're ready to bake, take out one of the lumps or logs and portion from there. For me the easiest way is to weigh the portions; you can pull off bits and weigh them very quickly. But you can use your #40 measure. If you do have a scale, measure once, weigh the measured bit, and then just pull off bits and match that weight. I'm only obsessive about even sizes with special Christmas cookies.

It's kind of amazing how much quicker and easier it is when you don't leave the dough in the bowl .
bbstx thanked cloudy_christine
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bbstx
Original Author
10 years ago
The dough is in 2 plastic wrapped portions in the fridge. I weighed one scoopful before I put it in to chill, as CC suggested. Tomorrow when I start portioning, I can do it by weight.

GL, thanks for reminder on fridge temps. After someone whose initials are D.H. left the freezer door open, I bought an alarm. One unit is in the fridge in the kitchen. The other is in the freezer in the garage. If my fridge temp goes above 40 degrees, the alarm will start beeping.

Next question: after I portion the dough, I'd like to freeze the dough balls so we can have freshly baked cookies. Cook from frozen or thaw first? If I cook from frozen, should I adjust baking temp?
grainlady_ks
10 years ago
You can either bake them frozen (add a little baking time, but don't change the temperature), or thaw in the refrigerator and bake as usual. Your choice :-). If you freeze a large amount of cookie dough (not portioned in dollops), allow it 8-hours in the refrigerator to thaw. If it's too stiff to make dollops after thawing in the refrigerator, allow it to sit for awhile at room temperature.

Quick-freeze the dough balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet or tray (just long enough to freeze through); then store the frozen balls in a container with a tight-fitting lid. Once again, it's about keeping the dough balls from picking up any odors from the freezer. I like to place a sheet (or two) of parchment between the layers of dough balls, if you have to stack them.

-Grainlady
bbstx thanked grainlady_ks
bbstx
Original Author
10 years ago
Follow-up: Thanks for teaching me the "wrapping the dough in plastic" trick. It made portioning the cookies the next day soooo much easier and quicker. I think the flatten logs set out for about 30 minutes before they were the perfect consistency for forming into balls.

I portioned the dough into 40g balls, but then decided that I wanted craggy tops, so I broke the balls in half and smooshed the halves back together keeping the broken side upright. Then I froze the balls on a cookie sheet.

Another good idea that sounds better than it works. I noticed when I was unpacking the package into my niece's freezer, some of the balls were no longer stuck together, which means some of the dough pieces are half the size of others.
cloudy_christine
10 years ago
You're welcome, Bbstx. I've been shaping cooking yesterday and today, and it really does make a difference. I can roll the cold dough into equal-sized balls very quickly.
bbstx thanked cloudy_christine

Resting Cookie Dough: a semi-scientific question

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