Re: Proofing on a heating pad

On Mon, 7 Mar 2022 19:41:15 -0000 (UTC), bob prohaska
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Lately I've been doing the final rise for sourdough bread
>on a Sunbeam therapeutic heating pad. By my measurements,
>it's too hot, but the results so far have been excellent.
>I'm wondering if others have tried it, and to what effect.
>
>The recipe is:
>
>200 g whole wheat flour
>200 g white bread flour
>210 g hot (steaming) water
>blend flour and water to lumpy mass
>cover and keep warm (100 F) 30 min.
>add 200 g starter (100% hydration)
>mix till smooth
>add ~15 g salt
>mix at least till bowl cleans up
>cover and keep warm (100 F) 30 min
>stretch and fold
>cover and keep warm (100 F) 39 min
>stretch, fold and form loaf
>place in covered, oiled Corningware dish
>
>Place Corningware directly on heating pad 
>with temp probe between dish and pad, on low.
>Cover pad and dish with inverted cardboard box.
>
>refresh starter and place on pad under box 
>
>Set timer to 5.5 hours, give or take. I use the
>activity of the starter as a gauge of progress.
>The temp probe starts out around 115 F or so,
>very slowly rising to an indicated ~135 F by bake
>time. The starter has to be stirred down at least
>twice to control overflow, volume gain 4-5X. 
>
>The room temp has been around 60-62 F for the batches
>so far. Presumably the temp will rise as the season
>advances.
>
>By all I've read, 135 is too hot, but the yeast seems
>to do just fine. I've checked the thermometer (Taylor
>remote-probe oven thermometer/timer) against boiling
>water and ice, it's off by no more than 2 F. Raising
>the bread and temp probe on a cooling rack lowers the
>indicated temperature about 10 F and reduces blow.  
>
>Bake is 30 min covered at 350 F, 15 min more uncovered.
>Nothing special, oven preheated ~5 min.
>
>The starter is a mongrel. It came from Bario Bread in
>Tucson AZ but lost activity when I tried incubating it
>during the past summer at ambient (80 F) temp. A gram 
>or so of commercial (Red Star) yeast revived it and it's 
>not been tampered with for at least six months, or about
>24 refresh cycles. It never was particularly sour and
>hasn't changed to my nose or palate. The starter, on its
>own, smells faintly like latex paint.
>
>I anticipate that as the summer progresses the room temp
>and so the proof temp will continue to rise and so a bit 
>concerned about how hot is too hot. 
>
>Thanks for reading, and any thoughts.
>
>bob prohaska
>
>
Why are you baking at 350F 'covered?'  The first 10 minutes or so is
when the crust and color develop.  135F is really too high for the
yeast.  Are you able to make a saitisfactory straight yeast bread?   A
non sourdough bread that you are satified with?  Your oven needs to be
pre-heated for at least 30 minutes not 5, or when you open the oven to
put the bread in you've lowered the temperature drastically.
Every step in making bread is special.  The steps are not hard, it is
just important to follow them.  Weigh or measure the flour properly
each time.  Don't add flour to the mix trying to get rid of the
stickiness.  Kneading does that.  Or cover the dough and walk away for
15-20 minutes.  Duriing that time the gluten will begin to develop all
by itself.  You should find the dough easy to knead after letting it
sit for a while.  Proper kneading and rising and shaping are very
important to getting the loaf you want.
Janet US