The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Can dough survive if temp during bulk reaches 37°C /98.6°F ????

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

Can dough survive if temp during bulk reaches 37°C /98.6°F ????

 Ooops...Just realized that the oven in which my dough was bulking (light on/door closed) reached 37°C for at least an hour..Is it bad ??? It still looks bubbly and alive.....

GaryBishop's picture
GaryBishop

That has happened to me. It gets surprisingly hot with just the light on, 

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

I crossed my fingers and carried on with the recipe...the dough looked surprisingly alive even after such a treatment...we'll get the verdict tomorrow after baking :-)

GaryBishop's picture
GaryBishop

If I set my oven to 100F and leave the light off, it will average 90F with a high of 100F and low of 80F. It works fine. 

I think things start dying about 120F if I remember correctly.

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

120F??!!  It's all good then!! False alert....I was really starting to panic :-)))..Thanks Gary!

jds's picture
jds

My kitchen was at 39-40C for a few days last summer. I have never seen dough ferment so fast before!

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

I feel ridiculous now...Beginner's panic !!! :-))))

But quite surprisingly, my dough didn't ferment any faster...Mind you, it only stayed in the 35-77° range for an hour or so...

40° in your kitchen...That's pretty hot !!! Where do you live???

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

Well...here it is...totally over-proofed but I think it's not due to the high bulk temperature, but more to the temp in my fridge...The dough temp was 6.6°C this morning before baking, which is way too high as it means it continued to proof in the fridge overnight..:-((((

Lesson learned!!!

Sabina's picture
Sabina

I often proof bread in my dehydrator at 95°F because it's the lowest temperature I can set it to. Your bread looks good.

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

That's good to know, thanks, Sabrina! 

Sabina's picture
Sabina

So I was looking at my dehydrator recipe book a couple of days ago, and it recommends proofing bread at 110F !

SunnyGail's picture
SunnyGail

I would never have imagined it would be recommended to go that high in temp for proofing!