How do you bring refrigerated dough to room temperature?

How do you soften refrigerated dough?

Take it out of the fridge and let it soften at room temperature for while, perhaps 30 minutes to an hour. If you are in a particular hurry, divide the dough into smaller parts; a small amount of dough will warm more quickly than a large lump. Do not put it in the microwave oven. Do not put it in a conventional oven.

Why is my bread hard after being in the fridge?

As the bread cools, however, those starches begin to slowly regroup into a more ordered, crystalline structure again, and it's this gradual return ("retrogradation") to the crystal state ("recrystallization") that causes bread to harden and grow stale.

How do you revive refrigerated dough?

I've never kept dough in the fridge for more than 72 hours. The yeast will eventually run out of food to eat and the gluten structure will collapse. A sourdough made with an active culture might have a longer fridge life, but it will develop some very sour notes if left for that much time.