Put the dough in an oversize bowl cover with oiled plastic wrap. Set your bowl on a heating pad, setting on low. Put a towel around the whole thing encouraging heat to fill the air space between the pad and the towel.

That's worked well for me when the place is cold.

I don't think it matters too much the heat setting when heating the oven up, just leave it on a very short time, like 5 minutes. Then turn it off. I usually leave the oven light on too when I use the oven. The heating pad is a good too, but not everyone has a heating pad. You can even set your bowl down in really warm water for a bit to get it warmed up.

Sue

It also doesn't matter if you only keep your house at 60°F. I usually make bread dough the day before I want to bake it. After the first rise, it gets knocked down and then it goes into the fridge. And even in the fridge it rises to the top of the large container.

Do you have an exhaust fan over your range? And does it have a light? If so set the dough to rise on the back of the stove with the vent light on. Not directly under the bulb. This will warm up the area enough for a quick rise.

Ann

I don't turn the oven on at all. I just turn on the light inside it, and that keeps it just warm enough to do the job.

I boil a 2 cup measure of water in the micro....then put the bread into that steamy place.
But bread will rise at 60 degrees...just not as fast as at 70 degrees.
Linda C

Wow! You guys are fast. I forgot to mention I am baking gluten-free bread--YUCK! No matter how carefully I follow the recipe or mix instructions, the bread is very temperamental and something is always wrong with the finished loaf, in my opinion. I would feel really inadequate if I weren't already proficient in making my own (real) bread.
Thanks.

Pre-heating the oven is not a very good method for a number of reasons. Leaving the light on in the oven, as already mentioned, is a great method.

1. Pre-heating heats the air in the oven, and it only maintains it for a short period of time, after which it quickly cools. The temperature MAY be too hot, initially, when you set the dough inside. Most people don't check the temperature with a thermometer to see if it's optimum.

Yeast is temperature sensitive:

- at less than 50 F (10 C) the yeast is inactive.

- at 60 F - 70 F (15 C - 21 C) the yeast action is slow.

- at 90 F - 100 F (32 C - 38 C) the yeast is at its optimum temperature for fermentation.

- at greater than 104 F (40 C) the yeast action starts to slow.

- at 138 F (58 C) the yeast is killed.

2. You should also check the temperature of your oven with the light on. Turn the light on when you start making the dough so it has time to not only warm the air temperature, but also the oven itself.

The closer to the light, the hotter it will be. I generally use my oven for a proofing box in the winter and will place the dough-rising bucket with the dough in it as far from the light as possible. It maintains a temperature around 80-85°F.

3. There is also nothing wrong with long cool rises, if you have the time. Cool rises really contribute a lot to the flavor.

-Grainlady

When I lived in a very cool farmhouse another lifetime ago, I used to set my covered bread to rise on top of the dryer on laundry day. The humidity created by the dryer in the laundry room also helped to speed things along.

We have a new oven and the light is installed in the back behind thick metal and it doesn't warm up the oven at all. So I always use a pan of hot water in the oven and let it rise to double. If the oven is not available I used my homemade incubator, a heating pad in low heat setting inside a plastic cover, to rise. The incubator also works very well.

Sometimes on top of the fridge is warmer than the rest of the house because of the energy the fridge uses and because it is pumping heat out of the interior. Our freezer is in the pantry and that keeps the pantry a bit warmer than the rest of the house.

My oven allows setting to low temps (75 to 125 degrees) on the defrost setting so I use that for bread rising. It has a proof setting too but the temps are higher than what I've seen recommended here - it allows choosing 110 or 125 degrees.

I thought years ago I'd hit on a new & easy way to let bread dough rise : the heating pad- but see others have thought of it already also! I use it all the time now as it is so easy & handy .... everyone at my age (!!) I'm sure already has a heating pad anyway! :)

LOL vieja, I have two of them!

Mudlady:
I didn't read all the Threads, my dough is rising in the Oven. Have to go !!!

If you do use the oven, there is no preheat.
Just turn it on for a couple of minutes, just warm.
DON'T LEAVE LEAVE THE AREA !!! Turn the oven off.
I know !!! I baked a loaf in the Dough Bowl.

Put the Dough in a Deep Bowl and cover with a Damp towel.
Place it in the top shelf.

Put a pan of hot water on the bottom shelf. Repl;ace the
water if it gets cold.
Lou

I use the oven light method as well. Just enough heat, not too much so as to bake or dry out the dough.

HOWEVER, I am not a veteran bread baker by any means. I still have a lot to learn.

But since others use the same method as I do, I figured I'd chime in! LOL

Linda

My oven has a proofing setting, but I'm not sure what temperature it gets set at. But the instructions say to put a pan of water in the oven to keep the humidity up.

When the oven is busy, I also proofed dough on the mantel of our gas fireplace, when the fireplace was running. That worked really well too.

In our previous house, I used to always put the dough on top of the fridge, with a clean dishtowel over it. That worked like a charm. I have cupboards over the fridge now, so that doesn't work for me anymore.

Susy:
Glad you mentioned the warm water in the oven.

I have put this in before but some may not have saw it.

I've built Proof Boxes .
In the Pizzeria I built one that held 50 Pizza Pans.

Had a small Hot Plate with a can of water, on the bottom.

Ive also used A small undercounter refrige, that didn't work, for Proofing dough.

Some of you bakers might be able to find one, to use.
It has a light bulb outlet and shelves.
Perfect for Proofing !!!

Put a Pan of Warm water on the bottom for Humidity.

A Cooler Chest can be used also. Put in a very small light bulb,lay it in a bowl.
Or a cup of warm water.
That's it I Quit, Lou

Someone once told me to let the bread rise under the "under cabinet" lights, so that is what I do and it seems to work well.