Using low oven temperature to accelerate proofing

Question

During wintertime it is often cold enough in my apartment that proofing takes much longer than in summer. I'd like to use my oven to create a warmer environment, in which the dough would rise faster. I can go 30-50 degrees celsius, the question is what temperature is safe and at what temperature will I actually start baking the dough. Is 50 degrees celsius still ok or not?

There's a question on here somewhere about what to do about proofing dough in the wintertime. (I stick mine on my radiator, but I have radiators, and they're not burn-yourself steam ones). Unfortunately, I can't find the question to link to. — Joe, Jan 17 '15 at 02:03
nevermind, found it : http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/2276/67 — Joe, Jan 17 '15 at 02:04

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:33

11

Let me suggest a totally different approach:

Why not work with the cool conditions instead of against?

You could let the dough proof for a long time, e.g. overnight in the fridge. This allows for a lot less yeast and hence a less yeasty taste, which is usually desired. Also, more complex flavors develop during long proofing times. (There is a reason french baguette may wait for two days before baking.) For a start, aim for about 5% yeast¹ and use cool instead of lukewarm liquid.
You might have to adjust your attitude, because this requires some planning ahead, but gives you more degrees of freedom on the other hand: Fresh bread / cake in the morning without having to get up before dawn and more tolerance with regard to proofing / timing - the dough can handle an extra hour or two in the fridge easily. (Especially nice if you have a baby or a crazy schedule...)
You could also dump the dough in cold water and proof it there. As crazy as it sounds, it works. See more here.

If you'd rather stick with warm conditions, I'd aim for 30°C for optimum (=quickest) activity. Yeast starts to die at about 45°C, completely dead at 55°C. Also, warmer dough tends to proof unevenly and have a "flat" taste (can't find a better word).

¹ fresh yeast, percentage based on flour weight.

Adjust dry yeast accordingly: fresh to dry conversion rate is 1:3, so use 2% dry yeast.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:33

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answered Jan 17 '15 at 07:00

Stephie

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Great answer, can you translate 1% fresh to active dry or instant? – Jolenealaska Jan 17 '15 at 09:19
Thanks @Stephie. That has come up here before, that in the US fresh yeast is hardly *ever* seen except in professional bakeries. Most of us are kind of clueless about it. – Jolenealaska Jan 17 '15 at 10:38
The difference is tiny. This is an excellent article: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipe/yeast.html I buy instant yeast in *two packs of of one pound bricks* at Sam's Club and keep it in the freezer where it lasts for at least three years. For like $6. – Jolenealaska Jan 17 '15 at 10:55
@Stephie this is an interesting calculation. Peter Reinhart gives a 1:3 ratio for dry yeast, so if the formula calls for 2% (as in classic French bread), I use 0.7% dry. The difference between instant and active dry used to be large, one would die off if you made a preferment with it, because it would go overnourished. But housewives didn't trust the package and made preferments, and it got bad reputation because it died so often. So they created the second type, which does not have this risk. – rumtscho Jan 17 '15 at 14:14
Thanks for the hint - I checked and adjusted the ratio for dry yeast. 1:3 is correct according to various sources (I *do* trust you, but better safe than sorry). I guess I mixed it up as most ("average", IMHO too yeasty) recipes use 1 cube of fresh yeast per 500g (even according to the manufacturer's website!) and the instructions on the dry sachets say "for 500g of flour". But finally, after rummaging in the back of my cupboard: One manufacturer of dry (vitavegan) did state "9g equals 25g fresh". So 1:3 is close enough. I usually don't bother with dry yeast, sorry for the mix-up. – Stephie Jan 18 '15 at 21:48
Not always viable, esp if you want to set dough to proof to be ready in few hours (eg to bake it after taking a shopping trip, watching a movie etc...) – rackandboneman Jul 29 '16 at 14:02
@rackandboneman believe it or not, but the proofing in cold water is pretty quick. And I wrote that refrigerator proofing needs pre-planning. – Stephie Jul 29 '16 at 14:05

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 22:15

50C (122F) would be a very high proofing temperature. The thermal death point of yeast is 55C, and you'll definitely hit a point of diminishing returns if you get too hot (most likely, you will have really rapid proofing on the outside of the loaf and an underproofed "core").

I would recommend setting your oven to the lowest temperature, and then once it feels perceptibly warm, turn it off and use it to proof. If you're doing a long proof, you can turn it back on for a minute or two every so often, but I wouldn't ever let it actually get up to temperature.

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 22:45

In the winter, I usually get fine results proofing in a bowl with a second bowl inverted on top of it, and then putting the whole thing in the oven, turned off, and just the light on. The light bulb usually produces enough heat to keep the inside of my oven at about 90˚F (32˚C?), and that gives me a good rise.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 28 '16 at 12:15

Rise from chilled @ 32C and keep rising until around 80-85% of desired height has been achieved. Return back to the chiller, it will continue to rise for a short time, keep in the chiller until dough is firm again and stable enough to take the weight of toppings.

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 29 '16 at 14:07

A commonly quoted temperature to never exceed with warm ingredients or proofing environments is 43°C. If using an oven, cover your dough container, check oven with a thermometer beforehand, and be aware of radiated heat effects from the elements themselves.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 26 '15 at 12:15

I use the pull-out warming tray on my oven set on its lowest temperature. I've never actually checked the temperature, but its rather cool. I can easily touch the bottom of the drawer without any discomfort.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 05 '18 at 04:16

I've done this a few times, kinda - we have a baking stone, and I'll preheat that, make sure it's cool enough to touch, and set the dough on the warmed stone.

It works pretty well to give a warm environment, the warmth lasts because the closed oven contains heat, and there's little to no risk of overheating the yeast. I have both gone with regular preheating for ~5min, and the lowest-temperature-preheating for a bit longer, the former is quicker to heat but more likely to overshoot (or needing time to even the heat out), the latter slower and more controlled.

Another potential alternative, depending on your oven, might be to turn the oven on (bake setting, usually) but keep the temperature set to zero. In our oven, that turns on the light, the machinery is humming, and the oven gets kinda warm - not hot, but just warm, preparing to heat but not doing so.

I've used this to dehydrate things before, because I can leave it going for quite some time without needing to re-check or re-warm. It wouldn't work for me with bread dough, since with aforementioned baking stone it would take longer to warm up than it would for the dough to actually rise (since especially the bottom of the dough, against the stone, will rise very differently from the top) . But if you don't have a baking stone it may work very well for you.

Using low oven temperature to accelerate proofing

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