I'm trying to rise bread overnight in the fridge and sometime it collapses.  What changes could I try in the recipe to try to stop this from happening? I think I need to retard the yeast action (I'm using fast-acting) but I'm not sure if I should add or remove salt, sugar, or use less yeast. Do I need to add another agent to control this process?  I want to make good loaves overnight and bake them in the morning. If I could I'd leave them in the oven overnight and use the built-in timer, but I suspect that's not going to work at all (aside from it definitely over-proving it'd be the same as putting it into a cold oven then switching it on).  Update: The Recipe...  650g strong white bread flour 10g salt 5g sugar 15g soft butter 7g sachet easy bake yeast 400ml warm water; 1 part boiling 2 parts cold   In summary, it calls for baking it at 230c (no mention of fan ovens), and claims that it's suitable for overnight rising. It's a single rise method. 
SAJ14SAJ's answer  explains the theory very well, and can be used for the general case.   In your specific case, I strongly suspect that your problem is too much yeast. First, the time frame you mention should work well with a normal amount of yeast no matter how much sugar you have, even at warmer temperatures than in the fridge. Second, many recipes floating around specify terribly high amounts of yeast. This tends to have two reasons.    more yeast creates a quicker fermentation. While the results are not as tasty as from a slow one, home cooks prefer quick recipes for logistic reasons.  many cooks are not aware of the fact that there is an optimal amount of yeast, and tend to think that more is always better (mostly because they erroneously assume that this will give them a fluffier bread, but some older cooks are also not aware that today's yeast is consistently good quality. Because the yeast you could purchase some decades ago could have difficulty rising, they tended to use more yeast than necessary so that they would get some leavening even with a bad batch).    As a result, I have seen recipes which have as much as 10% fresh yeast, which actually produces inferior bread.   A classic percentage is 2% fresh yeast, with some enriched breads going up to 4%. Doughs above that range give you gradually worse taste and texture in exchange for shorter proofing times. As you are retarding overnight, this should be OK for you - try 2% for lean dough, 2.5% or 3% for enriched. If you are using dry yeast, convert by a factor of 1/3 (use 3 times less dry yeast).   Note: my post speaks in baker's percentages, where 3% means 3 g of yeast per 100 g flour.  