The final rise after shaping, where the dough reinflates with gas before baking. Can be done at room temperature or in the fridge (cold retard).
After shaping, your dough has lost some of the gas built up during bulk fermentation. Proofing lets it fill back up. At room temperature, this takes 1-3 hours. In the fridge, it takes 8-24 hours (cold retard). Use the finger poke test to check readiness at room temperature. For fridge proofing, you'll need to experiment with timing. When in doubt, underproof slightly rather than overproof -- you can always bake a bit early, but you can't un-overproof a dough.
