Delaying Fermentation in Refrigerator Yesterday, I was on the cusp of baking my bread (I had just begun the final shaping process of the dough, putting it in banettons to rest at room temp. for 3-4 hours) when I had to leave for work. I remembered that my recipe said I could delay or "retard" the process by putting the banettons filled with the dough, in the refrigerator for up to twelve hours. Well, when I arrived home seven hours later, I took the dough-filled banettons out of the refrigerator, heated up my oven, filled pans with water and put them on the lowest shelf of the oven, tossed the dough into the Dutch Ovens, scored the tops of the dough and put the lids on the pots and waited twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, I took the lids off the Dutch Ovens and let the bread bake for another twenty five minutes. 

I never got the "oven spring" out of these loaves and the crumb is rather dense. Should I have let the dough warm up after removing it from the refrigerator? How long should I wait in this situation?
Yes, you should have let the dough come to room temperature before baking.  Also, you might try pre-heating the Dutch oven so that it is really hot before adding in your loaves.