Equipment--Warming

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS IN BREADMAKING

For years, I followed recipes that said to put bread dough in a warm, draft free place. Not a problem. The stove had a pilot light, and so did the water heater. Even the top of the refrigerator was warm. There were lots of places to choose from.

I'm all for energy efficiency, but it hasn't been kind to breadmakers. Who has a pilot light anymore? My water heater is so well insulated, there's no warmth to spare.

I live in a cold climate. My thermostat is set at 70 in the winter, but there's no way a bowl of bread dough on the kitchen counter reaches that temperature--not that 70 is warm enough to begin with. And I like to turn the heat off at night.

So I needed temperature control. To start with, I jury rigged a bread dough warmer (I later learned the correct name for such a thing is a "proofer.") I put a heating pad--the kind you'd use if you put your back out--into a Sterilite tub. Set the heating pad on low, put the bowl of bread dough on it, laid a damp cloth over the bowl, covered the tub, and waited. It worked great. I later added a couple of refinements, like a thermometer. And a rack between the dough bowl and the damp cloth so the cloth wouldn't sag into the bread dough.

I learned to warm my bowl of dough initially by setting the heating pad thermostat on medium, and turning it to low when the temp in the tub got to 85. All in all, it's cheap, and it works. It holds a lot, including long French bread loaves.

A refinement is an actual bread proofer I found for sale on Amazon. Made by Brod and Taylor, It's digital and can be set to exact degrees. It also folds for storage.

So what's the big deal? Why is this so crucial?

The reason is, after a lot of experimenting, both Aaron and I found that our sourdough succeeded reliably if we gave it a warm environment. And it failed as often as not if we didn't. In fact, we agreed that temperature control is the key factor in homemade sourdough bread.

So find, make, or buy some kind of incubator for your starters and doughs. The alternative is constant frustration.