Friday, January 24, 2014

Gadgets: Proof that Proofing Works

The first thing I have to say about the folding proofer ($148) from Brod and Taylor is "How have I survived so long without this?"


Okay, I'm in the midst of developing bread recipes for my upcoming cookbook, Make Ahead Bread, so I'm baking more bread than a normal person. But even when I'm back to my normal rate of bread production, this will be a handy thing to have. And, when it's not in use, it folds, for more compact storage. That's always a bonus.

When I first unpacked the proofer, I thought it might be a little too small - it looked like it might be too short to fit my stand mixer bowl. But, no, the bowl fit in the proofer, with a little headroom. The interior measures 12 1/2 x 15 inches, and about 8 1/5 high, so it's too small for a half-sheet pan, but it's fine for plenty of other pans and bowls.

This heats to a range of 70 - 120 degrees in one-degree increments, so besides proofing dough you can use it for fermenting yogurt or similar products.

I been using it pretty constantly for proofing dough, and I've made several batches of yogurt as well. Although I haven't done it, I suspect it would also be useful for keeping food warm if you're cooking in batches or if something is finished a little sooner than it should be.

Before I had this proofer to work with, my favorite place to proof dough was in my oven with the light on. But that's no use when I need the oven for something else, which is usually the case.

If you don't bake a lot of bread, obviously you won't need this. But if you make a lot of bread and you want consistent temperature for rising, this just might come in handy.

The product was supplied for the purpose of a review on Serious Eats; this was previously published on Serious Eats.
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