Baking Dopers: How best to warm an area of my kitchen for dough to rise?

[Avarie537]

OK - that’s a really really akward thread title, but I just couldn’t think of a good, concise way to phrase it.

Hubby and I bought a book with loads of bread recipes, and are trying our first one tonight. I think we (well, I) made a bit of a boo-boo with the warming bit. See, we’ve got the A/C turned to 76, and I know that’s not warm enough! So, I turned the oven on, and put the dough in my Crock-Pot bowl on top of the stove in order to let it rise.

Oops. :eek:

The bottom of the dough wasn’t exactly cooked after an hour, but it sure wasn’t the right texture. We went ahead with the recipe, though, and will eat it anyway. So now you see my dilemma: what exactly is “warm” when it comes to letting dough rise, and how do I go about doing it?

[Cherry2000]

I can’t remember for the life of me where I found this. The most information I saved in that regard was that is is from “Tidbits”, by Todd Wilbur. I haven’t tried it myself yet, but it sounds like it would work fine:

The biggest problem most folks have in making yeast based breads and rolls at home is finding that warm place to raise the bread with consistent results. It is so dependent on the weather, etc. and for us poor souls with an electric kitchen, we don’t even have a pilot light to help us out. I was given this tip years ago by a chef at Walt Disney World for making a proof box by using your dishwasher. That’s right I said a dishwasher.
Here’s the procedure.
Before you start making the dough, throw about a cup of water in the bottom of your dishwasher. Turn the dishwasher to the dry cycle (make sure you you have the high temperature dry on) and firmly latch the door. When the dough is complete (the dry cycle should be done by now), put it in a bowl and cover it. Then quickly open the door, place the bowl in, close the door and firmly latch it. Set a kitchen timer to exactly one hour. At the end of the hour (no peeking or you will let the heat out) remove the dough which is now perfectly doubled. If the recipe calls for a second rising (breads, rolls) as soon as you remove the dough, put the dishwasher on through half it’s dry cycle to reheat the “proof box”. Form your loaves or rolls and cover again according to the recipe. Place the loaves back into the dishwasher as above for exactly 30 minutes while you preheat the oven. After 30 minutes, your breads will be perfectly risen. Take them out of the dishwasher, put immediately into the hot oven and bake according
With this procedure, you will be able to make any yeast based recipe start (from the moment you take out the first ingredient) to finish (when you take the bread out of the oven) in three hours with perfect consistent results each and every time. I have used this technique for years and would never raise my breads any other way. Give it a try and you too will become a believer.

Hope that helps

[Runs_With_Scissors]

Oh, man. There is SO much to baking bread, I don’t even know where to start.

And the really ironic thing is I just started a loaf right before reading your post

I tried my hand at a true sourdough starter…but it’s really difficult, and I guess I just didn’t have the patience. I’ve heard it’s good to get a bit from a favorite local bakery you enjoy.

But I do want artisan bread, so I compromise. I take 1 cup water, 1 cup flour (high gluten), and a package of yeast. Mix all ingredients in a bowl (NOT a metal bowl), except just add about 1/4 t. of the yeast. Save the rest for later.

After it’s all mixed in the bowl, I cover it tightly with plastic wrap and stick it under the comforter and topsheet of…my waterbed. I live in Oregon, and tonight it’s pretty cold so I’m even doing it right now. This really gets things going. There is natural yeast and enzymes in flour, and sitting over night really makes my bread what it is.

The next morning I’ll wake it up by following Betty Crocker’s French bread recipe. Whatever the recipe calls for, I just start with my original 1 c flour and 1 c water; and I add the rest of the yest.

For rising, it’ll be a bit chilly here tomorrow morning. In the winter I keep the 'stat at 72, so I just place the rising dough near a heat register and covered with some wax paper and a damp towel. Obviously I won’t have the heat on tomorrow, but it will warm up pretty quickly. If you want, you can run your oven at the lowest setting for a bit, turn it off, and let the dough rise there. My initial rise is about four hours; the last rise is anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. Bread is a 24 hour process for me, and that’s what makes it taste so good.

I’m sure you’ll get plenty of tips in this thread. It’s a VERY difficult hobby, and I’d recommend taking a class if you haven’t already.

Good luck!

[silenus]

I always just turned the oven on to its lowest setting for a few minutes, pop the dough in, then shut it off. Stays warm, but not too hot. Crack the door a bit if you want to be really cautious.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

Geez, I forgot to mention baking!

I use saltillo tiles I bought at Home Depot. They’re 12" x 12"; but I discovered they crack in the oven, so I had them cut in half. So, I use two 12" x 6" tiles placed next to each other.

A steam oven is best, but I’m not going to spend several thousand dollars…

Bread needs to cook for a while, but it browns awfully fast. A good sized loaf needs to bake about 30 mins, so I cover it with a bit of foil draped directly on it for 15 minutes or so, then remove it so it browns.

You just have to play around for a bit. I read once that most people literally throw away three loaves of bread before they hit one that’s edible. I only had to throw away one loaf because I have a friend who coaches me. (Literally threw it out…it was a brick.)

[Baker]

Avarie537, I bake at home as well as professionally.

At home, the best way I have found is to place the dough in an unlit oven. No heat at all. But boil a pan of water, remove it from the stovetop, and place in the oven alongside the dough. This gives you a warm, slightly humid atmosphere. Depending on how long the dough needs to rise, you may have to remove the pan of water and reheat it a couple of times.

Keep the oven door closed while this is going on, to confine the warmth and moisture. Done this way you shouldn’t even have to cover the dough in it’s bowl, as the moisture keeps the surface of the dough ball from drying out.

I hope the above is clear. I sometimes forget things. If you need to, email and I can get even more specific, depending on type of bread product.

[Baker]

And speaking of forgetting, :smack: when the dough is nearly finished rising, you do need to take it out of the oven so the oven can be warmed up to temp for the baking. That won’t take long enough for the dough to dry out, so I don’t bother covering it then. I like to very lightly brush the surface of the loaf with beaten egg. This gives gloss and color when baked.

[Moe_Mentum]

I’ve always found the top of the regrigerator to be a nice warm spot for letting dough rise.

I’ve never tried it, but the top of my computer monitor is also nice and warm and would probably work well. This has the added advantage that you can keep an eye on it while working on something else.

Of course if you have a laptop or LCD monitor, this might not work so well.

[Avarie537]

YAY!

Thanks everyone for your help. What we made last night is called “petit pains au lait” - little breads with milk! Just so you know, they came out fine - just a wee bit tough. We’re going to tackle french bread today.

We have electric heat, and all of our vents are in the walls. We don’t have a water bed. I can’t do the pilot light thing, since I have an electric oven. The idea of putting a bowl of hot water in the oven with it sounds great.

I’ll let you know how the french bread comes out later on today.

[Chefguy]

I’ve used the top of the stove as well. Just make sure you wrap the bowl in a towel before leaving it on the stove, so you don’t cook the bottom of the dough.