The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

No oven light

Blake Gumprecht's picture
Blake Gumprecht

No oven light

Hi,

I recently moved into a house that has a cheap gas oven -- cheapest modern oven I've ever seen. It has no light inside (or clock, timer, etc.)

I am a long-time bread baker and have always relied on the oven light bulb during cold months to help bread rise. I can't do that anymore and it's seriously impacting my winter bread making.

What I've done to compensate is turn on the oven for 10 seconds or so when I start the rise, which helps a little, but I still have problems. Recipes that have always been successful aren't always successful any more.

Does anyone have a suggested solutions? Can I buy a portable light of some kind to put in the oven? Whenever I search for oven lights, I only get results for oven light bulbs.

If anyone has ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks,

Blake

3 Olives's picture
3 Olives

You can buy a proofing box and set the exact temperature you need. 

Blake Gumprecht's picture
Blake Gumprecht

I have a very small kitchen and can't really afford an appliance just for bread rising. Not sure where I would put it either.

GaryBishop's picture
GaryBishop

There was a recent series of posts on homemade proofing boxes. Combine a cheap cooler, a cheap controller and a heating pad (or cup warmer or light bulb) and it works great.

If you want to stick with your oven, how about an old school work light?

Blake Gumprecht's picture
Blake Gumprecht

I have thought of just buying a work light, but not sure how to find out if they actually produce any heat.

Ming's picture
Ming

Light is heat so rest assured it will generate some heat. Don't you have a temp gauge? Nobody should be making bread without a temp measurement device in my opinion. 

Blake Gumprecht's picture
Blake Gumprecht

The oven has a built in temperature gauge. I also have an oven thermometer, but that's designed for oven temps not air temps with the oven off (low temp is 150).

Ming's picture
Ming

No, I was not talking about the oven temps, the temp of the SD starter/dough should be what you will need to measure and monitor. 

Ming's picture
Ming

There are some good suggestions above. One idea that I got from Mariana was to use an insulator to shield a SD starter from temp influences which I thought was an excellent idea. 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Blake, you could wire a dimmer switch on a light bulb socket. Plug that into the wall and use the dimmer to set the heat temperature. You will probably need a low wattage bulb and the thin wire will pass through the oven door and be fairly sealed by the gasket.

If you really want to get fancy you can boil a pan of water and place at the bottom of the oven for humidity.

There are slightly more complicated options if you are interested, but the above will work well and is easiest to build.

Danny

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

There is NO heat generated from them so oven warm / rising bread , is a thing of the past x several years. I place my bread in my microwave with the door propped  slightly open  and light on, they still have an incandescent light on some of them at least. aAn old fashioned heating pad from the drug store is plenty warm cover dough with a towel. A bowl of hot water in the oven , door closed , well insulated will work fine as well. I wouldn’t spend on a proofing box. A styrofoam cooler and a hot water bottle will work at least as well. Don’t need stead temps , have never baked a loaf and risen it in a temp controlled space in all the  more than 45 years I have baked . It will be fine. 🙏