Kitchen

[CamilleP]

JaxsMom, electric is the only option unless we get an exterior propane tank installed somewhere near our house, and we don't know if we can safely do that or not.  We live out in the country and have no natural gas lines or cable tv, city water or sewer to our home, we only have phone and electric lines.  I grew up using a gas stove, and would love to have one again, but that alone isn't enough to make me go through the hassle and economic loss of moving.  If all I wanted was a convection oven, I would find a way to fit a countertop oven into the kitchen, but what I really need is a new cooktop, and in my kitchen, that means a whole new stove.  So I'm investigating all the electric options available to me, and I'm leaning towards an induction cooktop because it produces the heat effects most similar to a gas cooktop.  Thanks for chiming in, I appreciate it!

[Nuttmeg]

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@CamilleP wrote:

JaxsMom, electric is the only option unless we get an exterior propane tank installed somewhere near our house, and we don't know if we can safely do that or not.  We live out in the country and have no natural gas lines or cable tv, city water or sewer to our home, we only have phone and electric lines.  I grew up using a gas stove, and would love to have one again, but that alone isn't enough to make me go through the hassle and economic loss of moving.  If all I wanted was a convection oven, I would find a way to fit a countertop oven into the kitchen, but what I really need is a new cooktop, and in my kitchen, that means a whole new stove.  So I'm investigating all the electric options available to me, and I'm leaning towards an induction cooktop because it produces the heat effects most similar to a gas cooktop.  Thanks for chiming in, I appreciate it!

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You may want to check Consumer Reports for rating and reviews.

[gardenman]

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@CamilleP wrote:

Thank you, ptagirl, I'd love a warming drawer, as I love baking bread but can't do it in this house, there is literally no place at all that gets warm enough to let it rise.  I'm also glad to hear your convection fan was not noisy, our house has an open floor plan and a noise in the kitchen is a noise in the whole house.

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There are countless ways to cheat the process if you wish to bake bread in a cold home. If your kitchen is kept above 40 degrees (the temperature where yeast goes dormant, and I'd be shocked if your kitchen wasn't warmer than 40) you can still make bread by starting out with warmer water (less than 130 degrees at which point the yeast will die) and even prewarming the flour in an oven for a very few minutes before mixing the ingredients. You'll want to use a rising container less prone to rapid heat transfer (stainless steel or glass) and something more prone to retaining the heat (plastic or ceramic.) The slight extra warmth at the start of the process will speed along the yeast and the right container will help to retain that heat.

Oddly, you're likely to get a more flavorful bread by letting it have a longer, slower rise in cooler temps. There are two processes that give bread its flavor. The first process is fermentation where the yeast converts the sugars to alcohol. This is optimal at 78-82 degrees (or so.) Using warmer water at the start and the right container can get and keep a dough in that range for quite a while. There is however a second process that enhances the flavor that occurs best at cooler temps using different bacteria/enzymes. The yeast typically overpowers this secondary bacterial/enzymatic action at "normal" temperatures and it's ony by refrigeration/chilling that you can slow down the yeast enough to allow this secondary process to take place and give your bread a better flavor. 

The key with temperature is to ignore the time stated in recipes and go by what you can see. As a general rule you want the dough to double in bulk at each rise, though there are exceptions to that rule. Read what your recipe says in regards to the volume of the dough and use that as your guide. In a 78 degree kitchen your dough will likely rise in the time stated in the recipe. If your kitchen is 85 degrees it'll rise in less time. If your kitchen is 60 degrees it'll take longer.

By varying the amount of yeast used initially, the amount of sugar (rise enhancer) and salt (rise inhibitor) to suit your environmental needs (warm kitchen, cool kitchen) you can still make great tasting bread. If you create a sour dough starter at your room temperature (whether it's cool or warm) that starter will be ideal for use in the environment it was created in. Whatever yeast culture took root there is optimized to grow/respond in those conditions. In fact some artisinal bakers have discovered that they have to create a new starter when moving from one site to another as their old culture no longer performs as well due to even slight environmental changes..

If you really want to bake bread, prowl the Internet and you'll find all kinds of tips and techniques that let you churn out great bread whether you live in the tropics or the arctic circle. 

[ptagirl]

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@CamilleP wrote:

Thank you, ptagirl, I'd love a warming drawer, as I love baking bread but can't do it in this house, there is literally no place at all that gets warm enough to let it rise.  I'm also glad to hear your convection fan was not noisy, our house has an open floor plan and a noise in the kitchen is a noise in the whole house.

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If you can only do electric, I would get another glass top stove.  I also had one of these in my previous home (before i got my gas convection oven).  It was an Amana.  I found it was easy to keep clean (I used razor blade & barkeepers friend to clean the top as it was made of a glass/resin combo) and heated quickly.  Baked well for my bread, etc., but was not a convection oven.  I liked it, but then went to a gas stove (hubby bought it for me for christmas one year)..

I also had a cold home, but was able to bake bread ok. I always turned on the oven ahead of time before mixing my bread.  Made the loaves, put in the pans on a cookie sheet, covered with plastic and towel and set them near the stove (not on it as it was too hot in the back) to rise.  It took a little longer, but got good results. 

[ptagirl]

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@ptagirl wrote:

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@CamilleP wrote:

Thank you, ptagirl, I'd love a warming drawer, as I love baking bread but can't do it in this house, there is literally no place at all that gets warm enough to let it rise.  I'm also glad to hear your convection fan was not noisy, our house has an open floor plan and a noise in the kitchen is a noise in the whole house.

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If you can only do electric, I would get another glass top stove.  I also had one of these in my previous home (before i got my gas convection oven).  It was an Amana.  I found it was easy to keep clean (I used razor blade & barkeepers friend to clean the top as it was made of a glass/resin combo) and heated quickly.  Baked well for my bread, etc., but was not a convection oven.  I liked it, but then went to a gas stove (hubby bought it for me for christmas one year)..

I also had a cold home, but was able to bake bread ok. I always turned on the oven ahead of time before mixing my bread.  Made the loaves, put in the pans on a cookie sheet, covered with plastic and towel and set them near the stove (not on it as it was too hot in the back) to rise.  It took a little longer, but got good results. 

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oh, forgot to tell you I mix my dough in a bread maker, let it rise in there(first rise), then take it out to form the loaves, then let it rise again near the stove. 

But you can still let the dough ball rise in a ceramic (want something that holds the heat) bowl near the stove til double in size (have done it both ways), punch it down, knead it a few times, then form loaves, put in pans, set pans on cookie sheet, cover with plastic and a thick dish towel and set near the stove again.  Keep an eye on it til it doubles again, then bake. 

Good luck with your new stove purchase