Stephanie – Milan, MI

After testing this proofing box for a month, I can readily say that I like it and am glad to have it stashed away in my kitchen for wintertime use. I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone complaining of rising problems due to temperature or lack of humidity. For the baker at their wits end with bread proofing problems, or even just a gadget-lover, it is a great product.

For the review, I will detail my bread-making method, list the tests performed, and then write about various aspects of the proofer that caught my attention throughout the testing process.

Bread-making method: I use a combination of oat, hard red wheat, and hard white wheat – all freshly ground from whole grains in my home grain mill. I also include honey, olive oil, warm water, salt, and 1 tablespoon of instant yeast for 2 loaves. I weigh out my honey, oil, and flour. I do not weigh the yeast, the salt, or the water. The water, however, is the only significantly variable ingredient as I add more or less water depending on the humidity on any given day. After mixing the ingredients together, I let the mixture sit for approximately 20 minutes before kneading. I do all or nearly all of the kneading in a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. I will occasionally do less than a minute of kneading by hand at the end if the mixer seems to be getting too hot or is simply not doing a good enough job. I then allow the dough to rise twice before shaping. After shaping I let the dough sit until it rises 1-2 inches above the edge of the pan and then bake at 350 degrees for 57 minutes with one rotation of the pan.

Tests:
09/17/2011: 70 degrees in kitchen, proofing at 85 degrees, 2 loaves.
09/20/2011: 75 degrees in kitchen, proofing at 85 degrees, 2 loaves.
09/26/2011: 75 degrees in kitchen, proofing at 85 degrees, 1 loaf.
09/28/2011: 72 degrees in kitchen, proofing at 85 degrees, 2 loaves.
09/30/2011: 72 degrees in kitchen, proofing at 85 degrees, 2 loaves.
10/05/2011: 72 degrees in kitchen, proofing at 85 degrees, 2 loaves.
10/08/2011: Melted coconut oil in large container at 95 degrees up to 100 degrees at the end.
10/11/2011: 74 degrees in kitchen, proofing at 85 degrees, 1 loaf in proofer and 1 loaf on counter.
10/14/2011 (A.M.): 69 degrees in kitchen, proofing at 85 degrees, 1 loaf in proofer and 1 loaf on counter.
10/14/2011 (P.M.): 74 degrees in kitchen, melting mixture of coconut oil and butter at 120 degrees.

Bread-proofing experiences: Before having this proofing box, I let my dough rise in two separate bowls (dough approximately 31-ounces each). My stand mixer does not perform well under the rigors of kneading a double batch of bread dough and thus, I separate the dough into two nearly equal loaves before kneading. Historically, I have left the dough in two sections throughout the remainder of the process. When I received the proofing box, however, I realized that my two-bowl system would not work in the dimensions of the box – bowls large enough to hold a 31-ounce loaf of bread are going to be too wide to sit side by side. I have therefore taken to separating the dough for kneading and then rejoining it for rising, only to separate it again for the final shaping. I do appreciate not having to use plastic wrap to cover my dough.

From the very beginning, the dough simply rose quickly and seemed more pliable than without the box. I attribute the pliability to the added humidity inside the box when using the small tray with warm water. The dough rose consistently in 1 hour for the first rise, ½ hour for the second rise, and about a ½ hour for the final proofing. I was able to vary my punch-down time by approximately 10 minutes on either side of an hour. Aside from using only a single bowl, I felt like the testing was going extremely well. However, on October 11, I decided I should try comparison loaves – one inside the proofer box and one outside of the box on the counter top in the kitchen (the old method). It was not terribly cool in the kitchen at 74 degrees Fahrenheit and I was surprised to note that there was no noticeable difference in the making of the two loaves. They took the same amount of time to rise and baked up fairly evenly – I couldn’t tell them apart after the baking was done. This test confirmed for me what I previously supposed in my situation: there is not a lot of benefit to be gained by using the proofer box during the summer. In Southeast Michigan we have several months of humid and reasonably warm weather – these two factors allow the kitchen to be in reasonable conditions for bread-rising much of the year. In remembering my bread-making over this past winter, it seems there were only about three months that gave me difficulty with bread-rising in the kitchen. This brings me to my second comparison test from October 14. That morning by opening some windows and turning on fans, I was able to bring the temperature in the kitchen down to 69 degrees Fahrenheit. I again set the proofer box at 85 degrees Fahrenheit. One loaf was sat on the counter top by the open window and one loaf was risen inside the proofer box. I had no problems with the dough in the proofer box and the times for the rises were what I had come to expect from rising my dough in the box. The entire process from the time I was done kneading to the time I put the shaped loaf in the oven was two hours and four minutes. The dough on the counter was noticeably different during this test. The first rise took an hour and 21 minutes while the entire process took two hours and 40 minutes. However, as I was putting my second loaf in the oven, I realized that I was rushing my second loaf, but I was hopeful that it would still rise properly in the oven. I wanted to put it in the oven when I turned my first loaf around, but in truth, although I allowed it to have a final rise for 36 minutes, I should have waited longer still. In retrospect, the loaf probably would have been better in the end if I had put it in the oven when I pulled the first one out. As a result, I ended up with one normal loaf of bread and one loaf that was quite a bit smaller than usual. The bread on the counter did not rise well at all. In the winter, I would obviously not find the coldest spot in the kitchen to place my dough, but I felt this served as a good experiment to show that the Brød & Taylor folding proofer will be very helpful for bread-making in the middle of a cold, dry winter. I did have one concern during the process that ended up not negatively affecting my loaf: when I took the dough out of the proofer for the first punch-down, the top of my dough felt cool to the touch, which hadn’t happened when my kitchen was warmer. I wondered about how well the temperature holds at the set temperature throughout the box when there are colder conditions outside of the box. I was unable to successfully test that at the time and as the bread did not seem to be noticeably affected and the kitchen warmed up considerably with the oven on, I did not attempt to test this again later.

Melting oil experiences: On both occasions that I attempted to melt oil in the proofer box, I felt like it took longer than I was willing to wait under normal circumstances. If I’m not in a hurry in the future, the box is already set up and in use, and I have a small amount of oil to melt, I will likely use the box for that purpose in those conditions. However, I expect that the vast majority of the time I will continue to melt butter and coconut oil in the microwave or on the stove top.

Other considerations: I find the set-up and tear-down of the box to be quick and easy, especially for the benefit that will be gained during wintertime use. I have only experienced two complications. The first is that the plug fits very snugly in the proofer. That problem does not really bother me as I consider the tight fit to be a good thing overall – it just slows down the tear-down process. In fact, at one point I timed myself setting it up and tearing it down. The assembly took about 27 seconds including plugging it in, but not including filling the tray with warm water. Putting the box away, which included unplugging, took me 34 seconds. When I timed myself with emptying and wiping down the tray, it took about twice as long.

The second problem is changing the temperature up and down. Until the very end of my testing, I was sure that you had to use individual clicks for each degree change as I had held down the button with nothing happening. As I didn’t notice it mentioned in the user manual, I assumed that it was not possible to continue to hold the button down to change temperature more easily. It wasn’t until my husband played with it and held it down for three seconds that the temperature started changing on its own. We both agreed that it felt like a much longer amount of time than we are used to for such an action, but it would have helped even to have it noted in the manual that you can hold it down for three seconds for the automatic increase/decrease.

I was pleased to see that the instructions included the proper location for the cord during storage. I failed to pay attention to where it was when I first put the box together and had a hard time figuring out where to put it initially when I first folded it up. I then looked in the manual and noted that I was supposed to put it in the back, and after I did so successfully, it made sense since that part is raised a bit – but if it hadn’t been in the manual, it might have taken me a bit longer to realize that

I will definitely be using this proofer with great enthusiasm during the winter months. There will also be times, I’m sure, when I don’t want to have a couple of bowls sitting out on my counter and decide to utilize the proofer even in warmer weather to save a little bit of space I sure am glad I don’t have to survive wintertime bread-making without this proofer box in my arsenal! Thanks again for this fun experience!

I enjoyed the opportunity to test this neat little gadget and want to thank you for that opportunity. I hope you find my comments helpful as I’ve tried to include the details that I thought I might like to have if the situation were reversed. Thanks again for this fun experience!