Use a Mug Warmer to Reduce Bread Proofing Time
Baking homemade bread can be a lot of fun, but some people are put off by the long hours of work. A loaf of bread takes hours to prepare, partly because proofing cannot be rushed. Although bakeries and some home kitchens are equipped with proofing boxes to regulate temperature and speed up the process, most homes do not. Luckily, there is a workaround. Instead of waiting until the wee hours of the morning for the dough to “double in size,” proof the dough using a mug warmer.
I started using a cheap mug warmer many years ago when I got into coffee. (With more caffeine, it’s better to drip, in my opinion.) The downside to a large pour over is that my glass carafe loses heat quickly. Enter the mug warmer. Its highest setting keeps my carafe at the perfect temperature, and it even has two lower settings for the weirdos who like their coffee cool. He handled it well for me and I never thought of it as anything else.
One day, while scrolling through Instagram, I saw a “dough rack.” Strangely, it looked just like my mug warmer. Well, that’s because it basically is. After years of painstakingly proofing cold weather bread, the answer has been right in front of me all along. This $20 rack, which keeps the temperature low for hours, is perfect for proofing bread.
When you’re not reheating your coffee, consider proofing your dough using one of the following methods:
How to set up your proofing machine
Many of these smaller brand mug warmers have two or three different temperature settings. Yeast thrives between 80 and 90°F, so the closer we get to that, the better. Coffee warmers, even on the lowest setting, tend to be hotter because coffee at 85°F will feel slightly cool in the mouth at 98°F. I used a surface thermometer to measure the mug warmer’s lowest temperature, which was 169 ° F. According to Bob’s Red Mill, yeast begins to die at temperatures around 120°F and really cannot survive at 140°F. Low heater level is still too hot.
But I can’t cope with this; I just needed to tone down the direct heat. I could have used a towel or oven mitt, but I wanted something simple and consistent. Instead I took a small plate. The foot of the plate fit well on the mug warmer and even lifted it slightly, creating some distance. I let this plate heat up for about five minutes before measuring the surface temperature: 88°F. Ideal.
If you don’t have an infrared thermometer to measure the surface, you can use your hand. After the plate has warmed for a few minutes, tap the center. It should be pleasantly warm, like the temperature of folding warm laundry. Yeast, like us, likes comfort. If it’s too hot to hold your finger on, you may need a thicker plate, or place a folded kitchen towel or oven mitt on the plate to create a better buffer.
How it worked
To see if this would actually work, I experimented with two balls of dough. I made a simple batch of white bread and divided the dough in half equally. I placed Dough A on a mug warmer with a plate dampened at 88°F and left Dough B to proof on the countertop next to it. The countertop temperature was 68°F.
After an hour, I noticed almost no difference between the two, but after two hours (the typical rising time specified in most recipes), the yeast activity changed significantly. The lighting makes it a little hard to see, but if you look closely at the picture you will see that Dough A has doubled in size and the bubbles underneath were numerous and larger than in Dough B. I shaped Dough A to prepare for baking . , and left dough B to continue proofing.
Most bread recipes actually call for two proofing periods: the first before shaping and the second before baking. While it’s true that this mug warming trick is only about the first proof, I would argue that getting it right is the most important. This is the longest and most tedious process, and this is where the yeast gains momentum. If your first proof is successful and the yeast is thriving, your second proof will likely be short and sweet, about 45 minutes. However, I would not leave you without solving your second proof. The second proofing usually occurs when you start preheating the oven, so you’ll have an acceptable proofing station right away. Cover the bread with a clean kitchen towel and leave it directly over the hot stove.