Bread rising!

[joyfulheart]

I have trouble getting my bread dough to rise, and am wondering if it could be that it's just not warm enough in my kitchen.  Today, I put the bread dough on top of my crock pot (I turned the lid upside down, so had a flat surface) with a couple of towels to buffer.  The dough rose beautifully.  So, I'm not always going to have my crock pot working to do this.  Which brings me to my question -- where do you put your bread dough to rise??  Any tips most appreciated!!

[gmvh]

Sometimes I put it in the oven with the light on, covered with a damp towel.  Keeps any breeze off of it and the light provides just enough of a temp boost.  I am super careful to not let the oven get turned on!

[lucifugous]

ooh what a fabulous idea! My kitchen is very cool right now so I am going to try the crockpot! In the past I've turned the oven on warm for a couple minutes and then turned it off, noting the temp as I put the dough in so I can kind of estimate when to start checking on it. But I'm pretty rusty on bread making these days.....

[SpuglyRoo]

I do one of two things.  One suggestion is to preheat the oven to around 200 (most ovens won't set for less than that) and then turn it off when it reaches temperature and start mixing the dough.  While you are mixing the dough it cools a little bit and then is a good temperature for a covered bowl of dough.

The other thing I do is to put it in our boiler/laundry room.  If the dryer has been run recently the temp in that room is around 85°, much warmer than the 65° we keep our house.  I will intentionally do a load of laundry just so that I am multitasking with the bread rising.

Another suggestion that I don't use but have heard is successful, put the bowl on top of your fridge.  Heat rises so it is warmer near the ceiling, but aside from that, most fridges throw off a lot of heat out their back and it rises up the back and floats over the top making it even warmer near the top of the fridge than most other places.

[laohaire]

I have this struggle too. My kitchen is inordinately cold (around 58-59F) in the winter. My first few bread loaves were complete flops, no wonder.

If you have a gas stove, I think that's probably the easiest way. I don't.

Things I've tried:

- I do have an Excalibur dehydrator. I took out all the trays and set it to 95F-ish. I was sure to oil the loaf and cover it so it didn't dry out.

- I've also placed the dough in front of a space heater with good success.

Both of these methods are expensive and wasteful of energy, though (IMHO).

Now that I have a wood stove, I'll only make bread when we have a fire going. The dough really likes the stove. I believe the best position is over the stove (cook stoves have a shelf for bread rising) but we don't have a shelf, so I place the bowl right in front of the stove. Sometimes I'm amazed at the heat the yeasties can tolerate, but they love the fire and rise very nicely.

[ollyoxenfree]

I have a similar problem - a drafty, chilly house. 

I can use the warmest spot in the house - near the heating vent in the master bedroom. Unfortunately, the dog has decided he loves the taste of rising bread dough, so if I use this I have to be extremely careful to keep him out of there. 

My other trick is to put the bread to rise on the back element of the stove while I bake something else. So somedays we get banana bread or muffins, along with fresh bread. I'll preheat the oven for the quick bread while I'm mixing and kneading the dough for the yeast bread. It goes on the back of the stovetop in a covered bowl while I make up the batter for the quick bread and get it in the oven. By the time it's done, the yeast bread is usually close to its second rise. I can turn off the oven and it will still be warm enough on the stovetop for the second rise. It's a bit of a pain to have to do the extra baking, but it is handy to have a quick bread too, and if I'm baking yeast bread, I'm in the kitchen anyway. 

[joyfulheart]

Lots of great ideas!  Thanks!  I appreciate it!