Hints on proving bread on a cooler day?

[Cornish Cream]

  I loved your dog story as well pandateddy.We have recently taken on a dog and he decided he would help himself to one of the dumplings that was sitting on the kitchen bench waiting to be placed on top of the casserole.I know push things to the back of the unit.

[fujicat707]

Being just a newbie, have tried both basic bread recipe (EDC) and tonight pizza dough recipe (EDC) both using dried yeast sachet (tandaco brand from supermarket) and neither rose, but went ahead anyhows bread no too good, pizza was thin & crispy!  Live in Brisbane, still not super warm here, so maybe it was lack of warmth to prove .. ?

[foodiepep]

Fujicat it could be that your yeast is dead.  Put the yeast in lukewarm water with a bit of sugar and leave it for 10 minutes.  If it doesn't foam then your yeast is dead.

On a cold day I put my dough in a bowl in a sink with a few inches of  luke warm water in it and cover the sink with a cutting board.

I've heard of people putting their dough in the car due to the heat in it but I'd forget it was there. 

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

How long did you leave it for Fujicat?  I find that I normally have to double the rising times of most EDC recipes.  To prove my bread I normally heat my oven to 50 degrees, turn it off and pop the dough in there to rise.

[fujicat707]

Thanks, will test my yeast using glass water/sugar method tonight, being newbie I am following the recommended EDC instructions to a tee at present until I get feel for timings/etc. In future will check this forum for any tweaks to the EDC recipes. Kathy.

[fujicat707]

Yup, had 10mm of foam, so yeast is fine. Might try the hot car option next time, but set an alarm on my mobile phone to remind me where my dough has gone!!!!! 

[earth mumma]

On cold days I boil the kettle and half fill my thermoserver with it.  I then make my bread dough.  Once the dough is done I empty and dry my Thermoserver and oil it lightly.  I put my dough in here with the lid on to prove and that usually is enough. If it's really cold I'll pre heat my oven to 50oc, turn it off and then put the thermoserver with a damp tea towel instead of the lid over the top.  This seems to work best for me.  I have tried various different yeasts too and have found that the individual packets - even though they are more expensive - sem to give a better result.  I also use a good quality organic bread making flour.  I have tried using just plain flour and it failed every time.
 

[Coops]

Place it in the varoma dish (either in the bread mat, on parchment or in a bowl) and place over the TMX jug with hot water in it - this was passed to me by a customer and she swears by it.

I was only thinking today what I will do now that the weather is cooling down, this is a great tip, thanks heaps.

[thermie crew]

Also in Adelaide. We've been proving once in bread mat for set time but then doing a second prove in oven tin, in oven with just the light on for 20-30 mins. It's giving us much more 'beautiful' (very good looking!) and fluffy loaves this way than just the one prove in bread mat as we did in summer.

Having said that, in my old oven it was not possible to put the oven light on without selecting a temperature and fan speed-they're all different.