The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Homemade Proofing Box

Sour_Baker's picture
Sour_Baker

Homemade Proofing Box

I've been meaning to buy a proofing box, but I figured it was too little for how much it cost. I needed a proofing box that would be able to have a normal size sheet pan fit in it so I would have enough room for proofing breads and, when needed, I can make my yogurt as well.

 

I've seen the older proofing box posts and they look great. I guess I'm still nervous about making one. One of the big things I'm wondering is about material for the box itself. Is there a preference between glass/plastic/wood? I wonder if condensation would be a problem. If it makes any difference, I would be in MN and that gets super cold in the winter, when I make my breads the most.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

If you want to go simple and easy, how about an Ice Chest & Heating Pad?

Maybe an Ice Chest and a steaming container of hot water for humidity.

I use a Brod & Taylor bread proofer. I’ve had one for years and it always works great for me. I find the proofer regulates temperature well. Nice thing is, it folds down into a very compact size. They are worth the price, but they aren’t cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/Brod-Taylor-Folding-Proofer-Cooker/dp/B01MEEH0SE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1515460915&sr=8-2&keywords=brod+and+taylor+bread+proofer

Dan

gillpugh's picture
gillpugh

I'm a finger prod away from buying the broad and Taylor proofer.  I've a home made one using as danAyo suggests ice box and a old yogurt proofing tray.  It's a bit of a pain though - I'm in the box all the time, reading the temp, adding water, switching on and off.  Not so good too when I want to make my kefir at Lower temps etc, and also no timer.

My birthday coming up so I know what I'm asking for. 

BreadBabies's picture
BreadBabies

Buy it from Bed, Bath & Beyond. If you sign up for their email club, you get 20% of an item. That's the cheapest I've found it.  Amazon sells at full price.

Shipping on BBB is also free at that price point.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Free shipping and around about $125. I don’t think you can beat that.

I might have to pass all my major purchases by you :-)

Dan

Bread rat.'s picture
Bread rat.

I've got an old ice plastic ice chest. Was thinking of setting it up with a 60 watt light bulb for proofing. Then using blue ice to drop the temperature  when doing a slow sponge or poolish fermentation. 

eddieruko's picture
eddieruko

If you want to build something on your own, controlling the temperature is really the key here. Which is want the B&T box does. I can recommend the STC-1000 temperature controller, which is commonly used to build fermentation chambers by homebrewers. It can be had on eBay or Amazon for $10-20. You can be as creative or as primitive as you'd like with the install and it works great. 

You could easily make something on your own for less than $50. You could also scale up from a cooler-sized box, to controlling the temp within a used refrigerator and have even wider range of temperatures to control.

eddieruko's picture
eddieruko

Here is a good example of a more elegant solution using the STC 1000. https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pimp-my-system/build-temperature-controller/

The nice thing about this style of controller is that you can plug in whatever you want (light bulb, heating pad, etc) into the "heating" outlet or have a small fan plugged into the "cooling" outlet. You'd have a nice set up to add heat when you need it, and provide convective cooling (which would also help with humidity).