Pro tip: Stop proofing your dough on the counter

I baked bread for like 5 years before I figured this out. Always set my dough on the kitchen counter to rise, and it would take forever and come out dense. One day last January, my wife left the oven light on after cooking dinner, and I just left the bowl in there by accident. That loaf rose in half the time and had way better oven spring. Turns out my counter sits around 65 degrees, but inside the oven with the light on it stays closer to 78. I felt like an idiot for not checking before. Now I use a cheap wireless thermometer to track the dough temp, and it made a bigger difference than switching flours ever did. Anybody else have a dumb slow proofing habit they finally broke?

2 comments

2 Comments

john_hunt216d ago

Read a baking science blog that explained dough fermentation is basically a chemical reaction and temperature controls the rate. Never thought of it like that before, just figured "put it somewhere warm" was good enough.

the_richard16d ago

Nope, you're right though. Temperature is everything with yeast.