@doughinyuma, I did try it once. It didn’t work and was a dismal failure. I will NOT try again.
Leah
@skipper1994, I did look into a Brod and Taylor proofing box. Since I live in the desert southwestern USA the ambient temperature in my house for the majority of the year is high enough, over 75 degrees, to warrant a proofing box unnecessary. It’s only a few months during the winter season when my house temperature at night is below 68 degrees. Many thanks for the suggestion though.
Leah
Hi, Leah1. I thought about that after I sent my comment! I’d have to agree that the proofing box isn’t worth the expense for such a short usage period.
I just tried to proof a loaf of plain white bread in the instant pot today and it worked just fine. I don’t know if it would be different from a cinnamon bread, but I put the dough in a bowl with parchment paper, placed it on a short trivet with 1.5 cups of water in the pot, and then put it on the low yogurt setting with the lid sealed for 1.5hrs. It rose very well.
If you’ve given up on the instant pot though and your house is too cool, can I recommend proofing it in the oven? you just turn the oven on to maybe 400, do a slow 10-15 count, then turn it right off. Then you slide your dough in your bowl/pan/whatever and just check it now and then. If the oven starts to get too cool, turn the oven on for another 10 seconds.
Megan, I’m so glad it worked for you! Weather conditions in the desert southwest are warming up quite nicely so the ambient indoor temperature of my home is now quite conducive to bread baking. Admittedly, I have not tried making my cinnamon raisin sourdough. It’s a favorite recipe but I do consider it to be my most finicky one. I do hope to make one soon. It’s my mom’s favorite and I’d like to bake her one.
To bread!
Leah
I saw this while cruising around to see if an Instant Pot would work, considering that a commercial proofing box is touted as also being a slow cooker. Anyway, after reading here and looking at some YouTube videos I opted to try the following: Put 1.5 cups hot water into the insert. Set a bowl that basically sets into the top of the pot but not all the way down. (If the bowl had gone all the way ion, I would have used the trivet). Glass cover over that. Set to the LOW Yogurt setting. The dough held at 85 to 86 deg F throughout the proof. After shaping and into the basket, I usually do the final proof overnight in the fridge and bake first thing in the morning. Came out great. Will use this during the shoulder seasons, when I can’t set the dough outside or or over the heat vent to stay warm.! BTW, I tried using only 20 grams of unfed starter, like the latest post. Worked just fine.
2 Likes
Thanks, Moni! However, my Instant Pot has only one Yogurt setting. Will try your method and monitor the temp, hoping for your success too.
I’m glad it worked for you, @Moni. It’s still over 100 degrees outside here in the desert southwest so the ambient temperature in my kitchen is easily over 80 degrees. After my monumental bread failure when I did try to use my instant pot to proof the bread dough, I decided not to try that again. However, I am intrigued by your success using yours.
Leah
This is definitely a johnny-come-lately response, but I, too, was tooling around the 'Net looking for Instant Pot dough-proofing and stumbled across the discussion here on Breadtopia.
I learned quickly after a miserable counter top rise during a long-ago winter, that my sourdough bread cannot proof, as the temp is just too low since my kitchen faces north and is usually cool, as I am in a mountain state.
Like @Raydee8, I also follow the Cook’s Illustrated method of proving dough, except rather than the oven, I follow the same process using the microwave (boiling the 2 - 3 C water, then set the covered bowl of dough in with the hot cup). Dough proves beautifully.
Love it especially during the summer months, but unless it is raining during the monsoon month (typically, August), I usually set the covered bowl outside on a patio table and let the warm sun do its work.
Just an FYI – I refused to throw away my failed loaf. Instead, I baked it and although it was dense, after cooling I simply cut it into squares and toasted/seasoned it for croutons. Pretty tasty!
Moni’s loaf looks gorgeous. Will give the InstantPot a go for proofing.
Happy bread baking to all!
@JuJu, it’s amazing how different climate affects our baking efforts. I honestly have NO plans to try proofing dough in my Instant Pot again. Of course, now that the weather in my neck of the woods, the desert southwest, is cooling, I once again have to modify how long I leave my dough out overnight to proof. In the summer when house temps in my kitchen are hovering between 78-80 degrees, my dough only needs about 8-9 hours to rise. In the winter, which is still mild here versus other parts of the country, dough can take 12 hours to rise as my house temperatures decrease to between 68-73 degrees in the kitchen. I feel like I learn something new with every loaf I bake. What I think is remarkable is that since I started baking sourdough breads in April 2018 I haven’t store-bought ANY bread products since!
Bake on!
Leah