@Mimi 1883 wrote:
@gardenman - Can you tell us what "warm place" you put your dough to proof? Everyone (recipes, TV, YT) says to put the dough in a warm place. Where is that? On a heating pad? How warm? 🤔
My mother was a fantastic cook and baker, but unfortunately, I never paid attention and always thought there was time to find out.
It depends on the weather. In the summer anyplace works. In the wintertime, I tend to use my oven. I'll turn it on for just a few seconds, maybe a minute or so, and feel that it's comfortably warm. Then I turn it off and in goes the dough. I keep the oven light on to help add a little bit of warmth. It's only a 40-watt incandescent bulb, but it adds a little heat to help keep things just warm.
I aim for a starting oven temp of maybe 90-100 degrees. Comfortably warm is my goal. I typically use my plastic dough bucket which isn't very cool and changes temperature quickly. If I was using a heavy glass or stoneware bowl to rise the dough that was cool to start with, I might start with a bit warmer temp as those containers tend to need longer to heat up to a comfortably warm temp. If you start with a little warmer oven temp (100-120 degrees) it'll help compensate for the greater mass of bowl you have to heat.
My bedroom tends to stay warmish (75-80) and my computer is alongside the bed, so if I'm making a less fussy dough, I'll just plop the dough bucket on the bed so I can keep an eye on it while on the computer. That's especially true if the dough is warm after being kneaded. If I knead by hand I tend to do it on my marble pastry board which cools the dough a bit. If it's been kneaded in my mixer or food processor the dough is typically a bit warmer and holds the heat pretty well in my bedroom.
Dough will rise at pretty much any temp above freezing. Warmer temps make it rise faster. Slower rising tends to develop more flavor. Some recipes let the dough rise overnight or longer in the fridge. Some bigas/poolish/starters rise overnight at room temp to develop a stronger flavor. The most important thing is to learn when a dough is properly risen. Lots of things affect the rise of a dough. Temperature is one of them, but the sugar/salt ratio affects it also. Sugar tends to make doughs rise faster while salt retards rising, but adds flavor. Some flours help doughs rise more while other flours can slow the rise.
Over time you'll develop a system that works best for you. I've been baking since my teens so I've got about fifty years of experience and I've had my share of failures along the way. I tend to rely on my known/trusted recipes and rarely try something different. I do have a new French rustic bread recipe from King Arthur that I may try out maybe next Saturday. Baking truly isn't as hard or scary as some like you to think. People have been baking bread since the dawn of mankind and even a "bad" homemade is still pretty darn good, so go for it! A bit of salt, yeast, flour, and water and you've got all you need. You can't go too far wrong.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!