Hit Me
I had many, many — and still another many — comments waiting for me at summer’s end. I did a lousy job of keeping up with them, despite my promise that I would. When the upgrade happened I lost about 300 comments on various subjects, or at any rate lost the tags on them that showed me they were awaiting answers. If you’re one of those who sent in a request hoping for a reply and received none, please do so again as I hate to leave a fellow baker hanging. – J
Hi Mr. Joe,
I’ve only just recently discovered your website after coming home for the summer from my first year as a baking and pastry student. After seeing your post about croissants, I wanted to ask, how do you proof your dough for breads? In class we had large proofers and they were great, but I haven’t been able to think of a way to achieve the same results in a home kitchen. Some of my chef instructors suggested preheating the oven to a low temperature and then turning it off and placing the dough in the oven. Is this something you would recommend?
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing website!!
Regards,
Jessy Harb
Hey Jessy!
What generous praise! Many thanks. And thanks very much for checking in, it’s a pleasure to e-meet you. But yeah proofing is a toughie for a lot of home bakers. I have a little folding proofer that I received in exchange for a review here on the blog here:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/3675691/?catalogId=80&sku=3675691&cm_ven=Google_PLA&cm_cat=Shopping&cm_pla=default&cm_ite=default&gclid=CML6z_qZiMgCFVc9gQodjnALRA&kwid=productads-plaid%5E82946565703-sku%5E3675691-adType%5EPLA-device%5Ec-adid%5E45527542303
It’s a very handy thing, but truth be told I hardly ever use it. Most of the time I just set a half sheet pan with my bread or pastry on my stovetop where it’s reasonably warm (the warming oven delivers at least a little heat) and cover it lightly with plastic wrap. In the case of croissants or Danish, which will obviously be wrecked by contact with the wrap, I prop the plastic up on upturned glasses, making a little tent. Does that make sense?
The one glaring error in the design of that proofer is that’s too small for even a half sheet pan, so you have to transfer whatever you proof to another sheet for baking. Not impossible, but not convenient either.
Cheers and let me know what you decide upon. The low oven thing is OK, by the way, but you lose heat so fast it’s not really worth it in my opinion.
Cheerio,
– Joe
I know I put the dough that needs proofing in my oven, turn it on for 30 seconds, then turn it off and turn on the bulb in the oven. It seems to work just fine.
Thanks John!
– Joe
Meh, if it was important they’ll let you know. Hope you had a grand summer you more than earned it. We owe you not the other way around.
Ha! Thanks Frankly. And yes, they probably will call back, as it were.
Cheers,
– Joe