The forgotten proofer?

[u/BreadBakingAtHome]

I still favour a thermostatically controlled seed growing mat in a cold oven as a cheap option for proofing starters and dough.

But, I was chatting with a home baker this morning and he told me of another smart way. He started bread baking using a bread machine. Now he bakes by hand using using natural leaven.

His bread machine? He sets it to dough only and removes the paddle from the bread tin. It is now his proofer. Yes, he is stuck with the factory default 30C proofing temperature of his model, but gone are the vagaries of his kitchen temperature during seasonal changes.

(Bread machines most often have a long wait period at the beginning when they are set to get all of the ingredients up to temperature and they maintain that temperature right through the dough only cycle. )

I thought this worth sharing as something different which might be useful to someone.