February 2, 2009 - 4:34pm
Bread Proofing Box Prototype
I received Rose Levy Beranbaum's February newsletter and in it was an invite to take a look and voice your opinion on whether you would be interested in seeing this product manufactured. It looks pretty cool, but I'm not sure I'd shell out the money since I seem to be doing OK with what I'm doing now. So take a look, see what you think..
Howard, this is right up your alley, another toy for the kitchen!
Betty
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unless I'm missing something, that EasyRise "baby" looks expensive and appears to only accomdate loaf pans. I'm thinking more along the lines of an extra large Walmart styrofoam cooler with a hole cut through the top, where I insert a light bulb secured in place with duct tape. You know, like Red Green used to do on his show.
Red actually built a car wash out of pvc, mounted on the car, held together with duct tape. Of course it needed some fine tuning.
Anyway, with the Walmart cooler/lightbulb/proofing box I won't have to enlarge the kitchen. Come to think of it maybe I should rent some space over in Palatka and start manufacturing these "Sure Fire-Cheapo-Proofers". I'm thinking about a celebrity endorsement along the lines of the George Forman grill marketing program. Wonder what Lisa Marie is charging for an Elvis product endorsement these days.
Good to hear from you and if you should run into Lisa Marie before I do please soften her up for a low-ball price on the product endorsement. I'm also thinking this Sure-Fire-Cheapo-Proofer would have speakers on the side that play Elvis' greatest hits repeatedly while the little yeasties are busy at work.
Howard
Howard, you DO watch Red Green! I knew there was a reason I liked you. :)
SteveB
http://www.breadcetera.com
equipment. Since I recently purchased the Ron Popeil Carabou Roaster (to go with my Popeil Vegematics, Popeil Pocket Fishermen, etc.) I'm struggling to find space without serious remodeling of my kitchen pantry. Incidentally, my new Popiel Carabou Roaster holds up to 16 Carabou at a time and makes delicious jerky... by the truck load. Great for those "After The Hunt" parties.
Seriously, what I'm wondering is, since Rose Levy signed on as Gold Medal Flour's Celebrity endorser not too long ago, it appears she's heading in the direction of Emril Lagasse/Rachel Ray with product endorsements. If EasyRise is her maiden voyage into product endorsements it doesn't appear she picked a Kentucky Derby Winner product for her launch. She needs to have a serious talk with Ron Popeil about designing a Rose Levy/Ron Popeil home dough extruder/proofer with all the attachments for different shaped loaves and rolls. Something along the lines of the Vegematic only in the $99.95-$149.95 price range :>)
Howard
Howard, I have a Caribou Roaster too! A top-of-the-line Sarah Palin Signature Model.
Let's hope Ms. Beranbaum's foray into celebrity endorsements goes better than this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SCJLlSf21Y
SteveB
http://www.breadcetera.com
Richard Simmons is "Steaming/Flaming To The Oldies" in that one. My main question is...who dresses Richard for his TV appearances? I'm thinking it has to be Boy George.
Howard
This is a baking website, not a place to have fun. If you continue to distract others from the task at hand you'll be asked to leave.
That is, of course, unless you have some other good video links.
-Mark
Mark, here are some more good video links:
http://thebackhomebakery.com/Tutorials.html
(No explosions, though) :)
SteveB
http://www.breadcetera.com
I may be a little slow, but I thought you just compared my videos to the Richard Simmons one. Hey, maybe you could use each of those three compartments in his steamer to proof 3 different types of bread. Then you could use the flames from the wiring exploding to create that 'brick oven' dry heat afterwards. Now that's an idea...
-Mark
I'm still mourning yesterday's pumpernickel fiasco. True Story! I have an oven (G.E. electric) that requires you hit the START button after setting the desired oven temperature. I had a sneaky feeling there would be a start button malfuntion one day---and yesterday it finally happened. I spent a day (off and on) making two large loaves of pumpernickel (Bernard Clayton's Pumpernickel au ferment aigre). I unloaded the first one from the banneton onto the peel, scored it, opened the oven door...NO HEAT! Talk about a Bummer!
Good thing I couldn't locate the ammo for my '38 Smith and Wesson or there would be numerous holes in the glass window of the oven door and the oven control panel.
Now, I've got to figure out where to get one of those Richard Simmons steamers to complement my G.E. oven.
Howard
'Howard Settles the Score with his GE'. You dress up in your Esteban outfit, get a Charles Bronson moustache, and let your .38 do the talking. I'm betting that video would get more than my tutorial videos get. Maybe it'd even get featured on YouTube.
-Mark
I've got a call in to Esteban's costume designer and sunglasses company along with the production manager for Clint Eastwood's Malpaso Productions. I'm sure the reason they're not calling back is because they're lining up the money to produce the "G.E. Oven Bites the Dust" video....NOT!
Good to hear from you---Hang in there,
Howard
You may want to check your site traffic, Mark, since Peter Reinhart is sending his testers to you for shaping lessons.
That's pretty darn impressive!
Have you perfected your Cuban shaping technique yet? ;->
...a Fresh Loafian who tipped him off. That was very nice of the person who sent him my way. And no, I haven't perfected the Cuban shaping technique yet, although it's definitely in my mind whenever I use my far inferior baguette shaping method.
-Mark
http://TheBackHomeBakery.com
...I've got a 5-shot Magnum Ruger SP101 for just that purpose. ;-)
That was too funny... Makes you wonder if this was setup by Daves producers or if this just happened to be a really bad night for Richard...
Thanks for sharing.
Dennis
it looks like a ok idea but if it only does dry heat it will be garbige. to proof it would need a humid control as well as heat.
the fact the web site says thet it will hold food but it only goes to 120
the lowest safe temp for holding food is 140, below that bacteria starts to grow so it needs more heat to do what it states it will do.
A price range of sixty to a hundred bucks that they listed in the survey to proof a large bowl or two loaf pans is just insane. I can do that in the old boxy 1980s microwave I have retained that still works just fine. Picnic gear will soon be appearing at the Mart stores, if it's not available already.
All I really need is a better setup with better control for full sheet pans, like for when I do a giant load of Danish etc. So looks like I'll be doing some cooler shopping maybe.
With the size constraints of the prototype, and with no humidity syetem, the item is pretty useless. And the above post is correct on the foodholding function - temp needs to be 140, so a another strike against right there.
...Have a Farm Coop in your area?
You can buy Egg Incubators for about $20.
They have an expansion type temp control and humidity chamber.
You only need the lid.
Then fit it onto a cooler.
Plug it in about an hour in advance, then its ready for your loaves.
I've got one that has been working fine for about 14 years.
The copper expansion part is replaceable, costs about a dollar.
Salute,
Mark
Thanks so much for the tip. I will definitely look into the incubators.
... ;-)
I'll try to remember to upload a foto of the one I've got.
My kids are 4, 6 and 9...I'm loosing my mind but loving every minute of it. :-)
All the best,
Mark
It's so shiny and stainless steely looking.
I don't get obsessed with the perfect temperature. I guess I should care more..but I really have no problem. In the winter, if we don't have the wood stove going..bread proofs in the oven with the light on. In the summer, on the kitchen counter. The only time I use the thermometer is to check bread temp on a new recipe I'm baking. I dont ever check dough temp after kneading..should I? Is that more for people who live in weather extremes and I'm just lucky?
Howard, Mark and Steve..shame on you for having so much fun!! at the expense of the R people..Ron, Richard, Rachel. LOL
Betty