I bake bread year around. Dough will rise even when refrigerated so I've never found it necessary to try and create a warm environment for bread doughs.

I think that a slow cool rise makes for a better texture and flavour.

~Ann

Like Ann T, I bake bread year round. I never turn my thermostat above 50F and although dough rises more slowly, it still will rise, even in my cold Michigan kitchen.

When I'm in a hurry, I put a cup of very hot water into my microwave along with the dough, and shut the door. That makes a pretty effective "proofing box".

The only thing I've had trouble with is sourdough starter, it does not like my cool/cold winter kitchen, I can only make it happy in the summer, no matter what I try.

Annie

Electric heating pad under the sheet pan, with a towel covering the dough? You could control the temperature quite well. Just a thought.

Another one who rises dough in my cool-ish kitchen (or fridge if I want a slower rise) and prefer the flavor to the slow cooler rises.

I don't bake nearly as often as Annie or Ann T... but make something at least once a week.

Alexa

When you start making your bread, turn the light on in your oven and your oven will make a nice proofing box, especially when your kitchen is well-below room temperature (70-degrees F).

Some people use the "preheat method" by turning the oven on for 10-minutes, then turn it off and add their dough to the oven, but there are potential problems with that method.

1. The initial temperature may actually be too hot, which can kill some of the yeast on the outside of the dough.

2. The oven isn't warmed long enough to thoroughly penetrate the entire oven structure and hold the warmer temperature, so it also cools quickly. This also happens when using a microwave as a proofing box.
A steady, over-all temperature that completely surrounds the dough is more desirable, and that's what you get with the oven light on. A heating pad may work, but is less than ideal because it quickly warms the bottom dough at an unknown temperature, leaving the bulk of the top dough to warm too slowly.

Whatever method you use, be sure to take the actual temperature of the proofing area (you can use an oven thermometer in an oven or microwave). Within the oven, test the temperature in several areas as it may be too hot close to the light. In my oven it will maintain an ideal temperature between 80-85 degrees F. in the lower corner - away from the light. Temperatures warmer than that are too hot.

You can also warm the oven chamber by placing a shallow cake pan on the bottom shelf and add boiling water TO the pan (don't take a risk trying to move a shallow pan of hot water TO the oven - fill the pan while it is in the oven as a safety precaution). This adds both warmth and moisture. Be sure to remove the pan of water before you preheat the oven for baking.

When a small amount of water is heated in a microwave oven, it does the same thing, but once again, take the ambient temperature to insure the temperature isn't too hot.

There was a whole book written about using the microwave oven by heating a small amount of water to warm the chamber and add moisture, to cut rising time, but it also made terrible bread because only the outer most dough got to rise because of the concentrated high temperature surrounding the dough.

But as AnnT pointed out, there is nothing wrong with a long cool rise, unless you are in a hurry. A cool rise develops flavor. A fast rise under warm conditions will lack the same depth of flavor. It shouldn't be a race to see how quickly it will rise, not if you desire flavor.

-Grainlady

I set my oven temp to its lowest setting - 170F - turn the oven on to preheat for about 2 -3 minutes, then turn the oven off and put the bread in, contained in a bowl (usually stainless), covered with a plastic "shower cap" bowl cover and then a towel. I usually set the dough bowl on top of a thick pot holder while it is sitting on the oven race just to prevent hot spots from the oven rack. This is my winter and most common arrangement for proofing. I live in the South where the weather is usually temperate.

In summer, I set the dough bowl on top of the washer or dryer in my unheated and not cooled laundry room.

Teresa

I'm no bread baking expert but I do know that if you want to use the oven to proof, it's just a matter of getting it slightly warm and then you turn it off. So you mentioned the warming drawer...you would need to turn that off before you put your dough in there...you wouldn't leave it on. I've never used my oven to proof my dough because I could never figure out how you are supposed to proof dough in the oven and then have the oven ready at 375 for baking...just exactly how does that work without having two ovens in your kitchen?

The way I do mine...well I put it on top of the stove and turn a burner on the opposite side to create some warmth. I love the idea of a heating pad though...I believe I'll try that the next time! Thanks for that idea johnliu!

I have been using Grainlady's method for years and I've never had a problem. I usually have my dough in a glass bowl, coverd with a towel, in a NON-preheated oven, just using the heat from the oven light. No added moisture. I do set the bowl as close to the oven light as possible.

An incandescent light bulb has limited life. Some oven lights are very difficult to replace.

With the new law, they may not even make the kind of light bulb for your oven.

Put a 50 to 75 watt lamp inside instead, or a pot of hot water.

dcarch

My kitchen has halogen lighting - (4) 50 watt 120V mini-reflectors in the front part, and it used to have the same in the back part, but I replaced the second four with LED because with that much halogen, the kitchen got too warm.

The last time I made bread in a pan (about a week ago), I put the pan on the stove top with the oven set to a low temperature. Heat did not rise up from the oven, but warm air did blow across from the back of the stove top, and so I rotated the pan half way through. It was rye bread with onion, caraway, and fennel, and so it had more than enough flavor.

If I'm making pizza, I normally make the dough a day ahead and store it in the fridge for a day or two. I do like the flavor that this produces.

Most bread I simply bake in the bread machine from start to finish, but I've found that my rye bread recipe does better if I remove the dough and bake it in a pan - I get a higher and more even loaf that way. For whole wheat bread, I leave it in the machine.

Lars

As always, it depends on what type of bread you are making, as well as the pre-heating and baking requirements. You probably only need to use an oven as a proofing box during the coldest time of the year, if you keep a really cold home, not on a regular basis.

In general, you take the free-formed or panned dough out before you need to pre-heat the oven. Do the math as a quick guideline....OR....only use it for the first rise. If your dough normally takes 45-minutes to double in bulk for the final proofing, and it takes 15-minutes to pre-heat your oven, you will have a pretty good idea of the timing. Sit it on top of your stove where there is plenty of residual heat from the oven heating to finish proofing the dough before baking it. This is where practice makes perfect....rather than an exact equation or numbers. "Know thy dough characteristics....." It's also completely different timing if your kitchen is warm and humid. I use my senses at least as much as I do a timer (a Polder I wear around my neck) or clock.

I also have the benefit of baking in my Sharp Convection/Microwave Oven, which doesn't require ANY pre-heating. I can bake 2 loaves of panned enriched bread in 20-minutes without pre-heating - a real energy saver. It's a little trickier baking in a Solar Oven because it takes longer to get it preheated, so I always start it early.

You can also find bread recipes that start in a cold oven, instead of a pre-heated oven. There are all kinds of roads that lead to the same "place", so to speak. Bread baking isn't just one thing or one process.

"---I don't think appliance lights are included in the new law because they don't have other options for them (yet one more unintended consequence from good-for-you legislation). ----"

True for all but a very few. If you are unlucky to be the few.

But the big problem may be, when a manufacturer is not making regular light bulbs by the billions, the very few appliance bulbs they have to keep the facilities to make will cost you $$$$$$$.

Stocking up is a very good practice.

dcarch

Unfortunately, one of the annoying things about the Miele oven is that it provides no way to turn the light on - the light opens when the door is opened and is off otherwise.

When using the bread machine to make the dough, it gets its first rise in there. After forming, I usually rise the dough in the room. The yeast has enough of a start from the first rise that that works quickly enough even if the room is a bit cool. If I want it to go faster, I usually put it in the pantry on top of the freezer where the heat from the freezer makes things slightly warmer.

My DH does the second rise on our weekly challah in the Miele using the defrost setting which allows setting temperature anywhere from 75 to 125. The proof mode has a fixed temperature setting of 125 degrees - what were they thinking? He likes the predictability of doing it that way rather than rising in the variable room temperature.

We have double ovens so can use one for proofing while the other preheats.

I make a couple of loaves pretty much weekly and just leave them out on the counter. We keep the apartment pretty much at 19-20C (66-68F). However long it takes to rise, that's what it takes. I don't try to rush it.

I put it in a metal pot with a lid, or an ice cream container, with the lid snapped on tight.

DCarch, that's a great point about the light-bulbs. I hadn't even thought of appliance bulbs. I don't even like the CFL's.
They don't last all that long. There are only a couple of rooms where they are on for a long period of time. The bathroom, bedroom, hallway are on for very brief periods....minutes; and they say they are not to be turned on and off for short periods of time.

This post was edited by jasdip on Wed, Jan 15, 14 at 11:51

"There was a whole book written about using the microwave oven by heating a small amount of water to warm the chamber and add moisture, to cut rising time, but it also made terrible bread because only the outer most dough got to rise because of the concentrated high temperature surrounding the dough. "

Here is the bread I made a couple of days ago and used the microwave to proof. I didn't boil water, nor did I heat the water in the microwave. I got a large coffee mug, filled it with hot water from the tap and put it into the microwave, with two loaf pans of wheat bread. The microwave is small and that filled it up.

The bread is a 6 egg whole wheat recipe that I made because I had thawed 8 frozen eggs (one package) to make quiche and didn't make it, so I needed to use the eggs. It's very soft and tender, because of all the eggs, the milk, and the oil. It certainly wasn't "terrible", it was actually very good, and it didn't crack, tear or "fall".

As you can see, it rose nicely and evenly, has a good crumb and baked beautifully. It is soft enough that I use it for sandwiches or French toast, it crumbles when toasted.

Temperature in my kitchen during that time was about 52F but warmed up when I turned on the oven to bake it.

Annie

Annie, that egg bread looks really good, like my grandmother's challah when I was little.
On Thanksgiving, I tried to make the King Arthur Parker House Rolls that we had made in a baking class a few weeks before the holiday. The chef in that class made a huge deal about proofing temperature, and of course, the commercial kitchen where the class took place had an entire proofing cabinet. The first rise looked exactly like it did in class, the second rise, done on the lowest setting in my warming drawer, killed the yeast, and the rolls formed a bit of a crust. They were ruined. No one noticed or cared because the house was a zoo of humanity, activity, and food, but I used my back-up bakery produced rolls. I make bread using a Zoj, and bake it in the oven, but I can't do Parker House rolls that way. The Dacor wall oven used to be okay on the lowest setting, but I fried two circuit boards in two years during the self-clean cycle, and now, with this third one, the oven runs hotter. It does have an incandescent bulb in it, and Dcarch raises a good point. No telling what that bulb would cost to replace. I have only been lighting the pilots on my big stove when I am actually cooking and baking, but perhaps I could run the pilots and do my rises in those ovens. What do you think? Only a test will tell. I really don't mind the idea of leaving them on this winter. The heating pad sounds like it might work. The microwave would only work if DH weren't here. Otherwise, too many interruptions for microwave use.
I liked the idea of a folding proofer for storage reasons, but I really do not want to purchase one if other items would work. Our house is in the low sixties lately, and I find that I am accustomed to that temperature now, which most astonishing.

kitchendetective, that bread got taken out of the microwave three times in 2 hours, LOL. Once, I wanted to thaw some spinach, once when I wanted to warm up my tea and once when I wanted to heat the leftover vegetables we were having for supper. In that instance it was kind of a PIA, but it worked anyway.

When it's a bit warmer than this, I can preheat my oven and place the bread pans on top of my stove, covered. The oven creates enough residual heat that the bread on top of the stove rises a bit more quickly than in my kitchen.

I agree with testing the pilot lights in the stove, that might be a very good option, depending on how well your stove holds the heat and how hot the pilots make it. As you said, only a test will tell.

I think different methods will work for different people. My Grandmother used to set the bread pans on top of the refrigerator. I remember I could set my hand on top of it and it would be warm. I think the new ones are better insulated, though. Elery thinks the dehydrator would be perfect, except that it's in the garage and I don't want to have to walk out in the unheated garage to proof bread, water will freeze out there!

Annie

I've found I don't need the house to be warm for the first rise when I put the dough in a round Cambro canister with a tight lid. It rises much quicker when enclosed and probably the reason most recipes say to cover it - heat containment.

After punching it down I shape and put it in a loaf pan, then cover with a linen cloth on the dining table, with a towel under it so the wood won't suck the heat out of it. I don't think heat makes dough rise as the yeast is creating its own as it multiplies. IMHO
Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Cambro Container

I agree. The Cambro Container (aka dough rising bucket, dough doubler, and food storage container with a lid - when purchased from a restaurant supply store) is the perfect micro-environment for dough and does an exceptional job holding that all-important moisture in (it's temperature, humidity, as well as the strength of the yeast that = rise). I have these containers in a number of sizes to accommodate the amount of dough, but the 2-quart is the one used the most.

Because this container is transparent (enough you can see the dough rising inside), has graduated markings on the side, and most importantly - straight sides - you can easily see when the dough has "doubled" so over- or under-proofing dough is easier to control. If you pat 1-quart of dough into the container, when it reaches the 2-quart line it has doubled in bulk.

A slant-sided bowl makes the task much harder because the area is smaller at the bottom than the top and "double" is just a good (or bad) guess. Add to that, covering the bowl with a cloth so you have to play peek-a-boo, releasing the warm/moist air each time you lift the cloth. Not optimal.... Use plastic wrap that holds moisture in and you can see through.

Cloth covered dough is not optimal either because it can draw moisture from the dough surface and cloth can stick to the dough. When the environment you are proofing the dough in has low-humidity, a dry cloth can cause a stiff/dry crust to form on the dough surface by drawing moisture from the dough - diminishing the rise and possibly the oven spring. Plastic wrap is a better choice because it holds in moisture and is lightweight so it doesn't hold the dough down while it's rising.

If you handle your dough with oiled hands when forming it on a Silpat (dough doesn't stick to a Silpat and no bench flour is necessary) or a countertop sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray, rather than a floured surface, there is usually enough oil left on the surface that the plastic wrap doesn't stick. If you are worried that it might stick, spray the plastic wrap with non-stick vegetable spray or a spritzer with oil.

The "professionals" also consider the temperature of the dough at the end of kneading. If the dough is 65-degrees F one time and 80-degrees F the next time, there will not be consistency in fermentation and in bread flavor. The temperature zone that works best, particularly for wheat-based breads, at the end of kneading time, is 75-78-degrees F. Due to seasonal changes in our homes ambient temperature and humidity - it's not an exact science.

There is even "friction factor" when making dough with a machine taken into consideration by professionals. Friction from the bowl and dough hook can increase the finished temperature beyond what is considered "optimal" if left to work too long.

-Grainlady

When it's a little cool/drafty and the dough is slow to rise, I just take my 2qt sauce pan and add an inch or two of warm/hot water, then I set my rising bowl directly on top of the pan and drape a clean dishtowel over the whole thing to retain the heat. That gentle bottom heat warms the rising bowl (usually glass) and gets the dough rising fast!