I am fortunate to reside in San Francisco, the place glorious pastries and sourdough bread are available. Regardless of the abundance of baked items, I nonetheless love making cinnamon rolls, yeasted espresso truffles, and varied kinds of pizza at house. Right here in San Francisco, although, the temperature is sort of all the time between 55 and 72°F (12 to 22°C), which suggests I typically battle to proof dough at room temperature. Fortunately, I’ve discovered a intelligent workaround that ensures good proofing each single time: inserting a scorching forged iron skillet within the oven with the dough.

The Significance of Proofing

Yeast is a residing ingredient that wants time to work. When leavening brokers comparable to baking powder and baking soda are integrated into doughs and batters—and, within the case of baking soda, used with acid—they create carbon dioxide via a chemical response, serving to truffles, cookies, and different baked items rise throughout baking. In contrast to chemical leaveners, yeast works by slowly fermenting and consuming the sugars and enzymes in dough or batter, producing carbon dioxide and ethanol. 

The carbon dioxide will get trapped by the gluten community—protein molecules that give breads and pastries their construction and chew—serving to inflate doughs and batters. This course of, in line with Severe Eats contributor and baker Max Bernstein‘s information to breadmaking, can also be what offers baked items their “attribute flavors and aroma.” Proofing, nonetheless, takes time. Fail to proof your dough lengthy sufficient and chances are you’ll find yourself with a dense, gummy loaf or cake. 

Past time, temperature can also be key to proofing dough nicely. Yeast is extra lively at heat room temperature (about 74 to 80°F/23 to 26°C), which is why many recipes instruct you to proof in a heat spot. Some recipes could have you ever begin proofing your dough at a heat room temperature earlier than instructing you to maneuver it to the fridge for an extended, slower rise over the course of 8 to 24 hours, which could be useful for creating complicated flavors and textures.

Many house cooks have devised varied hacks—together with leaving the oven gentle on, briefly turning on the oven, and inserting a pan of scorching water inside—to assist create the perfect surroundings for proofing dough. Whereas a few of these strategies could be efficient, none are as constant or dependable as my most popular technique. Leaving the oven gentle on would not work for me, as my bulb is not heat sufficient to make a noticeable distinction. Turning the oven on briefly to heat it up after which shutting it off does work, however it requires babysitting the oven to make sure it would not get too scorching. It additionally includes biking the oven on and off through the proofing to take care of heat, which is unnecessarily fussy. 

Inserting a pan of scorching water on the underside shelf of the oven works nicely, however it will get messy if it spills. That brings me to my go-to technique of making a heat surroundings, which additionally occurs to be the simplest: heating a forged iron skillet and inserting it within the oven.

My Foolproof Methodology

The warmth from the recent skillet passively radiates within the enclosed oven, making a heat surroundings superb for proofing dough and serving to it to rise quicker than it could on the counter. Thick forged iron conducts and retains warmth nicely, so there is not any want to show the oven on and off or fear about spilling water everywhere in the kitchen ground. In case your dough requires an prolonged proof—something over 90 minutes, comparable to for brioche—you would possibly have to reheat the skillet midway via. However for doughs that solely require 60 to 90 minutes of proofing time, heating the skillet as soon as is often sufficient. 

Understand that all ovens are totally different. Some are higher insulated than others, some are bigger or smaller. When you’ve got an oven thermometer, you may repeatedly monitor the inner temperature of the oven. For those who don’t, simply verify the oven on the midway level to see how the dough is progressing and if you might want to reheat the skillet.

The Greatest Skillet to Use

Giant, heavy-bottomed forged iron skillets work higher than small, light-weight ones, which do not retain warmth as nicely. I exploit my massive 12-inch Lodge pan, however when you’ve got a smaller skillet, you would possibly have to reheat it midway via the proofing to take care of heat. Don’t use enamel-coated forged iron, because the enamel coating and forged iron have totally different charges of thermal enlargement, and exposing the pan to intense warmth can harm it and even crack the enamel. 

Learn how to Simply Create a Heat Proofing Surroundings

1. Transfer one of many oven racks to the bottom place. 
2. Alter the second oven rack to the center place. 
3. Place the forged iron skillet on prime of the range and warmth it over medium. This takes about three to 5 minutes on my range, however your stovetop is likely to be totally different. I do know the skillet is scorching and prepared once I can really feel warmth radiating from the pan once I place my hand a few inches over the middle of it. (As soon as the skillet is scorching from the range, it is best to all the time use a heatproof oven mitt to deal with it.) 
4. As soon as the skillet is scorching, use a kitchen towel or oven mitts to fastidiously transfer it to the underside rack of the oven. 
5. Place the dough in a bowl on the center shelf, ensuring it’s coated with a humid towel or plastic wrap, then shut the door and proof till prepared (usually that is when the dough is puffy and practically doubled in dimension, however every recipe is totally different).

With the forged iron skillet trick, I could make a weeknight pizza dough with out worrying that it will take without end to rise. That method, I can focus extra on the toppings and fewer on whether or not I will get dinner on the desk at an affordable hour.