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How do you raise your dough in cold seasons?

Asked 12 years, 5 months ago Modified 8 months ago Viewed 156k times

It is winter down here in Australia and I find it challenging to find a warm spot to raise my bread
dough. What I have been doing is placing the dough in the oven (not switched on) with a pot of
23 hot water, replacing it once or twice. The oven becomes a warm and moist environment for the
yeast to do its magic.

What other alternative spots are there to raise the dough in cold seasons?

baking bread dough yeast proofing

Share Improve this question Follow edited Jan 17, 2015 at 2:05 asked Jul 20, 2010 at 5:34
Joe zachary
76.4k 15 151 429 2,389 9 25 40

related, how to use a microwave for proofing : cooking.stackexchange.com/q/47590/67 – Joe Jan 17,
2015 at 13:12

25 Answers Sorted by: Highest score (default)

A non-exhaustive list of ways to get your bread to rise when it's cold includes:

27 Just let it rise slowly over a long period of time, which does give you good flavour but
requires serious patience

Put it in the airing cupboard, assuming Australian houses have such things, but in the winter
the hot water tank will keep it nice and warm
 p

If it's still in the rising in the bowl phase rather than having been shaped, you can carefully put
the bowl in a larger bowl of warm water (not too hot though or it'll go a bit mad)

Sometimes I can get away with putting the pan with the shaped bread ready for the oven over
a large bowl or bucket of hot water

Put it in the oven with the pilot light on if your oven has a pilot light

Put it in the top oven with the door open while you're cooking something else in the bottom
oven, if you have two ovens (careful though, this can get too hot depending on your oven)

Encourage the cat to sleep on it

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 20, 2010 at 9:42

Matthew Walton
1,849 14 16

11 I stick it behind my computer. The thing is like a furnace. – Adam Shiemke Jul 20, 2010 at 10:47

2 Similar to using an oven with a pilot light, there are often warm spots on a cook-top/range with pilot
light(s). – Isaac Jul 20, 2010 at 15:44

3 I just heat my oven slightly (it's electric), put the dough in covered, and shut the door. All of a sudden my
bread is rising in a warm, dark place just as the recipe suggest. – justkt Aug 18, 2010 at 12:37

1 No mention of radiators? (old house w/ cast iron radiators... not those little baseboard ones, so I can set
large bowls of dough on there) – Joe Feb 21, 2014 at 4:55

If you are talking about resting, that is for a short period, typically 10-15 minutes, covered with a
damp cloth. When raising however, which takes considerably longer, what I do is set my oven at
8 around 90 - 100 F or 30 - 40 C and put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a damp cloth.
Have, with other ovens, turned the heat on briefly, periodically.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 20, 2010 at 6:06
Frankie
2,386 13 11

Sorry, you are right. I meant "raising". I will edit my entry. Thanks. –  zachary Jul 20, 2010 at 6:20

5 Many ovens I have seen (in the US) don't go below 170F. It's always annoyed me, but I guess it's an attempt
to keep people from holding food at an unsafe temperature. – Al Crowley Jul 20, 2010 at 12:06

Run your dishwasher for a few minutes, wait to let the water finish dripping, cover the bowl of
dough with plastic wrap and set inside--top rack seems to work the best for me.
8
Share Improve this answer Follow answered Feb 19, 2014 at 19:53
Sue
 81 1 1

♦
1 Oops, I just said the same thing. I deleted my answer and upvoted yours. Works like a charm!
– Jolenealaska Mar 6, 2014 at 10:15

I do something very similar to Shawn's solution. I put a large glass of water in the microwave to
heat it up. Once that is done I put my dough right in next to it. If it needs a long rise, I will go back
7 in an hour or two, pull out the dough and reheat the water for a minute or two. Then I can put the
dough back in again.

Careful though, a since the space is small it can get hot quickly if you use a large amount of
boiled water.

If your refrigerator doesn't have any cabinets above it, you can put a bowl of dough on top of it
back near the wall. The waste heat that is sucked out of the fridge and freezer is vented out the
back and will rise up the wall. It’s not going to be too warm back there, but it will be warmer than
the counter.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 20, 2010 at 12:13
Al Crowley
675 3 7

My mother used to put the dough in a steel bowl, cover with a plastic bag, and then wrap an
electric blanket around the whole thing.
7
Warning: Cats love to sit on top of this soft, warm, aromatic goodness.

Really Late Additions:

1. The top of the fridge is often slightly warmer than the rest of the kitchen.

2. Put the dough in the oven and leave the light on. Tape a note over the oven controls to
prevent anyone from turning it on.

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Apr 5 at 19:29 answered Jul 20, 2010 at 15:30
Chris Cudmore
6,072 4 32 48

If you have a clothes dryer and happen to have a load of laundry on, sitting on top can be warm
enough. I usually just use the oven method.
4
Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 20, 2010 at 6:06
d i l
 daniel

To go another route -- a bit of forward planning and the use of a fridge might be another way to
solve your problem, which is probably one of boredom or inconvenient timing.
4
Instead of making bread over the course of a morning -- say, between 9am and midday -- you can
make it over 24 hours in the fridge, using the cold environment to slow the yeast and develop
flavour. It works something like this;

Make the dough last thing at night, knead it, and pop it in the fridge. The yeast will get, say,
ten hours to work in a cold environment, which works the same as an hour or so at room
temperature.

In the morning, get it out of the fridge, knock it back, and shape it. Put it back in the fridge on
its tray or proving basket.

In the evening, get it back out (it'll have risen by now) and bake.

I've made focaccia this way and the nice thing about it is that you don't have to 'time' things very
much. Also, the slow prove gives a nice flavour!

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jan 25, 2016 at 11:07
Steve Cooper
514 3 10

I don't think the Australian winter can beat our harsh Canadian winter.
One suggestion is to switch
then oven light on or to make use of a 60 watts incandescent bulb using an extension wire
4 through the door gasket to keep the oven warm. This will keep the oven warm for an extended
period. Or buy a bread maker! (Which I only use for bread kneading only).

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Apr 8, 2016 at 14:07

Boey101
41 1

I just fill the sink with some hot water and slap it in there, covered by a clean towel. Works like a
charm!
3
Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 20, 2010 at 18:06
Boetsj
777 4 8
 You may want to play with the water temperature. In his book Bread, page 383, Jeffrey Hamelman
provides a formula to calculate the right temperature of the water before mixing it with the rest of
3 the ingredients. Also, it's mentioned that one of the benefits of the folding technique (just degas
and knead for a few seconds every 30-50min 2-3 times) is that the temperature gets even in all
the dough.

I don't know if the formula can be shared here. He mentions in a recipe that you can email him
about the formula. You can also find if your library has a copy of the book using worldcat, I can
see a few copies in Australia, I hope one of them is close to you!

Share Improve this answer Follow

answered Aug 18, 2010 at 8:58
Julio
2,021 5 24 31

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (F), leave it there for 10 minutes. Shut the oven off. Make your
dough, and when you're done kneading, the oven will be nice and warm, but not too hot. Works
3 great!

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Apr 8, 2016 at 16:17

Chris Bergin
Chris 912 5 10

I place mine in the bowl I made it in and place in / on the yoghurt maker.

3 Share Improve this answer Follow answered Dec 16, 2016 at 8:16
michelle
31 1

I place mine in an oiled bowl, covered with a damp tea-towel on top of the heating boiler. There's
usually enough residual heat coming out of it to make it the warmest place in the house once the
2 heating goes off.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 20, 2010 at 18:15
FordBuchanan
816 1 5 10

I usually use the hot water in oven method you described but I've also had success with just
 I usually use the hot-water-in-oven method you described, but I ve also had success with just
putting the dough in the oven with the oven light on (this is slower than the hot water method).
2 I've also put the dough in a metal bowl and placed over some warm water in my slow cooker, put
the lid on top, and set it to warm. This works a bit more quickly, so you need to pay attention and
shouldn't do it if your dough needs to rise slowly.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 20, 2010 at 18:37
Rebekah
1,476 2 12 18

I live in the Blue Mountains and it is impossible to get bread to rise in my kitchen at only 2 to 5
degrees above outside temperature. I mix and knead the bread in a bread oven machine (tried

2 kneading and am hopeless at it). After one knead take out and form the loaf and place in the
convection oven preheated at 40 deg C for 30 to 40 minutes. When time is up remove and cover
with a tea towel or similar and preheat the convection oven to bake at 200 deg C for 30 to 35
minutes. Now we avoid buying bread at the shop if we can.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Nov 5, 2010 at 2:57

gypsybird
163 1 2 8

Try placing an electric heating pad on the counter on low setting. Then put the bowl or pans on
top. Check periodically to make sure it is not too hot. works great on granite countertops as they
2 are usually colder than laminate ones. Good luck :)

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Nov 29, 2014 at 20:59
Theresa
21 1

I put my bread in the slow cooker on the 'warm' function. Works a treat!

2 Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 20, 2015 at 10:39
Ann Horsburgh
21 1

If I'm baking in the morning, and my bed is still warm, I put the bowl under the sheets or the top
duvet. Alternatively, I grab a hot water bottle and put it under a thick blanket with the bowl.
2
Share Improve this answer Follow edited Jan 14, 2018 at 20:43 answered Jan 14, 2018 at 13:30
 moscafj Crow
67.9k 3 104 191 21 1

There is a device created just for this situation. It has both temperature and humidity controls.
Due to the pandemic, this item is currently out of stock on Amazon, but generally would be
2 available:
https://www.amazon.com/Brod-Taylor-Folding-Proofer-Cooker/dp/B01MEEH0SE

However, it is available on Williams Sonoma site. It costs about $169.00. There are other brands,
as well.
This one can also be used as a slow cooker, yogurt maker, kombucha maker, etc.
In
proofer mode: 70-120F (21-49C) in 5 degree increments.
Humidity control is optional.

It can hold 2 standard loaf pans.

Share Improve this answer Follow edited Apr 10, 2020 at 17:08 answered Apr 10, 2020 at 17:00
Gaius Gracchus
21 2

How about this: fill a hot water bottle with just enough warm/hot water to allow it to still lie flat
(get the air out before closing), then rest your (preferably rectangular) container on top.
1
Share Improve this answer Follow answered May 7, 2014 at 9:20
Maria
11 1

In winter when the sun is not too hot, I put the bowl of dough into a glass fish tank which is in the
sun. The temperature sits on about 35C (measured with old vacola thermomter).
1
Share Improve this answer Follow answered Aug 10, 2015 at 0:22
Ruth Harriman
11 1

I love making yeast breads and live in South Africa where it can get really cold in winter. If in a
hurry, I have found that putting the covered bread dough into the car which has been warmed by
1 the sun,can really help it to rise, though of course it needs to be watched carefully and care must
be taken to make sure the heat is not too hot!!

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 15, 2018 at 11:19
Anne.
 11 1

Dishwasher for the win!! Make sure it's clean, of course, and water isn't actively dripping from
above. I ensure mine's clean, turn it on and let the bottom fill with hot water, turn off before it can
0 drain, insert bread - wait an appropriate amount of time... then bake.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jul 15, 2016 at 1:34
Jon
9 1

This is my first winter baking sourdough bread in Lithuania, and it has seriously affected my
baking times! In the Summer my bread proofs in about an hour and a half, but now it takes about
0 9-13 hours. So I usually mix my ingredients some time between 5pm - 7pm, and should get my
bread shaped and put into bannetons by 11pm (hopefully sooner, but sometimes I get a late
start), then I let them sit on the counter and they are ready bake in the morning. Try starting in the
evening, keep the dough on the counter top through the night, and see how your dough is in the
morning. If it is over proved, you can start later in the evening, or use less water.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Jan 17, 2019 at 15:13
Chase Smith
11

This was already suggested in a different answer. – Sneftel Apr 11, 2020 at 21:01

How about a blow dryer? It has air and heat. I haven't tried it yet, but it probably works.

-4 Share Improve this answer Follow edited Oct 11, 2016 at 21:02 answered Aug 28, 2016 at 18:57
Preston sam
3,800 3 29 48 1

♦
2 Rising takes a while - maybe an hour or two. I'm not sure if hair dryers are designed to be left on that long?
And you don't really want air blowing around to dry out your dough, just a little bit of heat. – Cascabel
Aug 28, 2016 at 20:07