June 16, 2019 - 5:36am
Cooling down loaf to the core - DIY proofing cabinet
Hi,
I build myself a nice warm / cold cabinet in an old gigantic fridge. The air is gently spread with a small fan. I have a small heater and of course use the cooling unit of the fridge. I use a temp controller (+5°C - +30°C) and I can control the humidity too. All good.
But, now that I am baking 15kg of dough at once, I realize that it takes a long time to cool my loaf to their core while proofing them.
Yesterday I prepared 15 loafs of 900gr, after shapping internal temperature was 23°C.
I place them in the fridge (5°C) and the 15kg of loaf took ... 8h to cool down to 6-7°C at their core.
So, my question,
Is this also the case with profesionnal cooling equippement? If not, how is the cooling of big mass of dought sped up.
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will cool faster. That said home refrigerators and freezers are not based on chilling large masses quickly.
What about putting in trays of ice and/or ice water in the fridge to stand the loaves on/in to help them chill?
Cold tiles in the fridge a-kin-to hot tiles in the oven. Line the shelves with cold mass days in advance.
Or how about a new deep freeze and stand the loaves in it, say an hour to significantly lower the temp before moving to the fridge? Could even layer the bottom or shelves with ice bags so as to not warm up the freezer too fast.
Could also get 15 freezer zipper bags and put ice and ice water in them to place on each loaf for the first hour in the fridge, might cool them down fast until the fridge can take over. Is only a temporary situation but I've done it often in emergencies leaving the bag on the dough until ready for it to continue fermenting.
just brainstorming here...
I like this idea!
I bought some baking stone I am not using, I will use them to increase the thermal inertia of my fridge. Starting the fridge 2hours before the cooling is necessary.
This being said, how can pro equipment manage a quicker cooling time? Even if you reduce the temperature of your fridge, you still need time to let the cold penetrate the core of the loaf!