The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

A Love Story

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

A Love Story

I haven't baked bread in awhile. When I do, we eat way too much and I have a beach wedding coming up that I need to prepare for. So, why am I posting here? Because I have interior musings that nobody on any other site would be interested to hear. I'm here to gather with other bread nerds about something that has been occupying my mind for the past several weeks.

Here it is...I love my Brod & Taylor proofer. No, this is not a commercial. Yes, I paid full price for it. No, nobody at that company has ever heard of me and I have no social clout such that they would even care what I have to say about this.

Why bother mentioning this here?  (Other than my personal need to belt a power ballad of love from the rooftops) I frequently see people discussing the engineering considerations of making a homemade proofer. Yes, you could do that. For some people -- the tinkering kind -- the joy is in the process itself. I congratulate you, you are a dying breed. But if you're considering that just to save a few bucks, let me tell you, the B&T is the most useful appliance I've bought in...maybe ever.  Its elegant simplicity is poetic. It takes up no space and its uses are many. Here's a short list of the things I have done with it, which barely scratch the surface of possibilities.

1. Making black garlic.

2. Pasturizing eggs in the shell at home

3. Keeping things warm for a party (a 200 degree oven is way too hot and dries out food)

4. Sous vide cooking

5. Defrosting (though this probably isn't safe with meat, but I recently did this with a frozen dough ball and it worked like a charm)

A few things I haven't yet done simply because I already have other dedicated appliances for this include making yogurt and using it as a slow cooker.

What have I not mentioned? Actual proofing or giving your sourdough culture a boost. Of course, it works beautifully for that, too. But the whole point here is that even though I haven't baked bread in ages, I regularly use this proofer. When I first bought it, I really hesitated. It seemed too pricey for what it was -- a very simple machine. I still kinda feel that way. But it has been so useful that I'm really glad I did it. I've wasted a lot more money on much less useful kitchen junk.

Okay...it feels good to share my obsession with someone. Thanks for listening.

Comments

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

but I don’t think it would fit 4 6-quart Cambro buckets ? So the oven with the light on is my alternative. Your proofed sounds amazing!

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

I know you bake large batches of dough. I can easily fit a 9 qt retangular Cambro in my B&T. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NEWB74/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also fit a round 6 qt Cambro with room to spare. But 24 qt is not going to happen.

If you wanted more control over the temperature you could easily place a ight bulb in the oven and plug it into a digital controller. That way you could choose the temp you wanted. Not expensive and easy to set up.  Just a thought...

Danny

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

But so far, the oven thing using the lights on and the door cracked open gives me a temp of 82F which is perfect for rising dough. The door closed gives me 110 F which I will use to bloom wild rice. I will keep your idea in mind though!

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

That's gonna be my next trial in the proofer!

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

It sure is good to hear from you Amy. Did you know that long fermented sourdough is pretty easy on the waist line?

Could I interest you in another starter survey? You did such a fantastic job with it. I miss hearing from you :-(

Danny

You mentioned Sous Vide. Have you done steaks with that method? We cut our steak with a fork. Patsy and I are head over heels about that...