December 30, 2013 - 12:34pm
My New Proofer
My daughter gave me a Brod & Taylor proofer for Christmas. It's the best thing since sliced bread. Here are a couple of pics of the product:
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My daughter gave me a Brod & Taylor proofer for Christmas. It's the best thing since sliced bread. Here are a couple of pics of the product:
Lovely looking bread. What a nice present.
Can you post a picture of the proofer if possible? thanks!
. . . soon. As soon as I saw your request I took a series of pics showing it at the various stages of setup, which is very simple. Of course, as the poet said, "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley." I had no sooner taken the last picture than the battery on my camera died; now I have to wait for it to charge before I can transfer the pics.
Be back to you soon.
Got 'em transferred.
This is the way it looks when it is folded for storage:
It opens like this:
With the lid removed:
The side panels hinge up like this:
With the side panels partially unfolded:
The side panels are in place:
Inside, with the rack in place. The little pan holds water to keep the humidty up.
With the top on:
End view, showing the control panel:
Hello Capt Dub and all the B &T Proofing owners
I have just bought the B & T Proofer but I am finding that it takes a really long time to proof the bread. For those of you that are experienced at using it, can I please have all your tips on proofing temperatures etc?
I tried proofing a basic yeast dough for bread that was 24 degrees Celsius and I set the proofer to 27 degrees Celsius. After 2 hours, the dough had risen slightly. I checked the temperature of the dough, it read 27 degrees on the base but only 22 degrees Celsius on the top, so it still had a long way to go on the rise, no increase in temperature on the top. I got impatient and baked it but it was a sad under-proved loaf.
My house is cold at 16 degrees but I assume this wouldn't make the proofer be cooler at the top of it. Does it lose a lot of heat? I would be grateful for all your tips as all the reviews on this product are good so I am hoping that I will also experience the joy that you guys are having with using it. Thank you so much!
I have a Brod and Taylor proofer and it is very accurate. I proof a levain at 21C for 14 hours overnight. When I check the temperature of the levain in the morning it is about 21.6C. I then raise it to 25C for dough proofing and it rises the dough within the timeframe estimated in the formula. Make sure you watch the dough and not the clock, but after a few bakes you can get some reliability for your schedule. We are in winter here and the house temperature drops to about 14C overnight, but the B&T keeps the temp that is set. Also, are you calculating the desired dough temperature of the dough when mixing?
Hope this helps.
Hi gavinc,
Thanks for confirming that the temperature is accurate on the B & T. I am in Australia and my place is cold at the moment too so I thought that may be the problem as the dough may be cooling too much before it gets to the proofer. It just seems like it took a long time to rise. Watching the dough and not the clock is a fantastic tip, thank you!
With regards to calculating the dough temperature, I am not sure if I am doing it correctly but I will keep on reading and learning. Should I try to calculate the dough temperature to match the proving temperature? I will keep on experimenting. cheers
Yes, try to match the proofing temperature. This may help you: The Importance of Dough Temperature in Baking | The Perfect Loaf
I'm in Rosebud Australia.
Cheers,
Gavin
Thanks for the website Gavin, such an awesome resource. I think my dough was cooling down too much between the kneading and transferring to the proofer-my cold room.
cheers,
Di
Nice work. I love my Brod and Taylor proofer. I could easily match the various temperatures required during a 3 stage Detmolder rye process!
As far as I am aware, the B&T proofer does not have a fan to circulate the air inside the chamber.
Therefore I am not surprised that there are temperature variations between low down and higher up in the proofer as found by Happylifeinoz.
Lance
Correct. One of the reasons to fold during bulk fermentation is to even out the dough temperature as well as developing the gluten strength.
Guys, how much dough are you able to bulk? And shaped loaves?
I use an Inkbird and a large picnic cooler to good effect, but the B & T always intrigued me.
I can bulk ferment a greater amount of dough than shaped loaves. I can fit two 750-gram bannetons side by side. One large mixing bowl with about 3-kg of dough for bulk fermentation.
It fits into the proofer very comfortably and holds more dough than I can bake.
I can fit 3 KAF/Nordic Ware 9-inch loaf pans or 4 8-inch loaf pans in the proofer.
Thanks guys.