Mad Scientist Project #999
The Heated Dough Board
Here's a project I made last year. It's an electrically heated dough board - very useful for those like me who live in cold climates.
My kitchen temperature is only about 16C in the winter so I hit upon the idea of a heated dough board for working the dough and proofing.
After much searching for a suitable heater, I hit upon the idea of using a piece of heating film, normally used for underfloor heating. For safety reasons, it had to run on low voltage and luckily there is a 12 volt version for use in caravans. It's only 0.33mm thick and an available size of 500mm x 300mm was fine for my dough board and draws 3 amps at 12 volts.
The dough board is made of 3mm thick anodised aluminium for good heat conduction and light weight. I fixed the film to it with foil tape. I then made a backing board from a piece of 3mm birch ply and glued this to the rear of the board.
Power is suppled by a 12 volt power adaptor. There is no automatic temperature control, but the adaptor can be switched to supply different voltages. In practice I nearly always keep it near 12 volts.
I glued a thermistor to the underside of the board so I can see the temperature on a remote. LCD thermometer.
I was really pleased with how this project turned out and use the heated dough board for every bake.
Lance
Very neat project, and nice write up.
My kitchen temperature during winter varies between 14-18C. I adjust my water temperature to meet the DDT of 24-25C, but by the time I've hand-kneaded for 15 minutes on the bench, it drops about 2C. I could definitely use a dough board like that. A great project and a neat job. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Gavin.
I wouldn't be without it now - it's just so helpful in making a high quality product. I also find that dough sticks less to a warm board.
Lance
What a great idea Lance. That would allow one to do a lamination without the dough dropping a few degrees as it always does in my apartment in the winter. Ingenious!
Benny
It's always good to make something useful - especially when you can't buy it!
Lance
I have been known to proof my dough on my bathroom floor - which has radiant heat...my husband just rolls his eyes. (but he eats the bread!)
Thanks; yes, I guess a floor with underfloor heating (as we call it in the UK) would be a good substitute - and permit proofing of a very large loaf!
No doubt someone partaking of a shower would also provide the perfect humidity level too!
Lance
Great project. I dreamed of putting an underfloor electric radiant mat under our granite kitchen island top when we redid our kitchen two homes and 20 years ago. But I couldn’t convince myself it would be worth it. Now I just never let doughs touch our icy counters in winter.
Tom
Cheers Tom; at the design stage I considered a heating pad under our granite worktop, but soon dropped the idea when I realised I would probably have to switch it on the day before baking, not to mention the energy consumption.
Lance
Bingo. 1” thick granite is not Fran’s bathroom floor. It would take a while. But I also wondered if that 1“ x 4’ x 8’ radiant block of 78°F heat would warm the center of the house for as long after I turned it off as it took to come up to temp. Guess I’ll never know. Yours is a great implementation. Kickstart and go commercial!
Tom