While cold weather makes baking a cozy affair, OUR doughs, whether made with yeast or sour cream, often struggle this time of year. Cooler temperatures and dry conditions slow down dough activity, leading to denser loaves, poor overall volume and poor oven spring. But none of these are insurmountable. Let's look at five easy ways to bake your best loaves even when it's cold outside. (And if you're up for the opposite challenge, here are some tips on how to cook the transition from winter to summer.)
Photography by Patrick Marinello; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
1) Take care of your starter
I don't know about your house, but in mine, the average temperature swing in my kitchen from a warm summer day to the depths of winter is about 20°F. While 80°F might work in July, 60°F in January is a problem: It's too cold for my engine to thrive. To keep mine sourdough growing at a steady rate, the best environment is a temperature between about 72°F and 78°F – not too hot, not too cold. How can I achieve that temperature consistently?
There are a variety of options. You can use a tool like House of Sourdough or a Brod and Taylor correctionswhich maintain an accurate and stable temperature. If you don't have one of these tools, a warm place in the house will do just as well. (And as long as you're taking care of your starter, be sure to pamper it, too preferences for the best bread possible.)
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
2) Manage the temperature of the dough
Now that your starter is nice and cozy, let's talk about mixing your dough. Like your starter, you want your dough to be warm, and you can achieve this by heating the water or liquids before mixing. In the colder months you need to use warmer water to achieve the same rate of fermentation that you can get using room temperature water in the warmer months. If you start with cold or cold water, your dough will likely be too slow, fermenting slowly; Low fermentation activity directly affects the volume of the bread, the springiness of the oven, the internal structure and the taste. (For a full deep dive, see my colleague Barb Alpern's article on Desired dough temperature.)
Here's an example: With my flour and air temperature measuring in the low 60s these days, it's important to use warm water – up to 100°F. While this may seem high, remember that a batter that maintains a comfortable 75°F in the summer will lose heat quickly in the winter. So when mixing your dough, use water on the warmest range and check the temperature of the dough after mixing it with one of my essential bread making tools: a Thermometer. A healthy dough temperature will be somewhere between 75°F and 80°F. In the winter, starting on the high side of that range will get things off to a good start, knowing that the dough will likely chill as it rises. If you heat your juices but still end up with cold dough, all is not lost. We have some tips for this scenario.
Danielle Sykes
3) Instruct mass fermentation
So we kept our starter active by keeping it in a warm ambient environment, used warm water for our mixing, and our dough temperature measured between 75°F and 80°F. Everything has to be perfect from here on out, right? Not enough. If we leave our dough cozy at a cool room temperature (62°F), within a short period of time it will cool significantly. The journey that started with so much promise will have you fixing up a flat on the side of the road if we don't intervene.
As with our sourdough starter, we want to provide a comfortable environment for our dough as it proofs. bulk fermentation. Find a warm environment or make one using the tools at your disposal. again, Broad and Taylor debugger is a great solution. I usually only find one warm place in my house – next to the wood stove, or inside my microwave, which sits on top of the stove. My colleagues have their preferences. Jessica Battilana puts her dough in clothes dryer. David Tamarkin likes his dough heating mat. (A heating pad will also work.) Look for an environment that is between 75°F and 80°F for the best and most consistent rise.
Martin Philip
4) Do not let the dough dry
Another potential winter baking challenge? Moisture (or lack thereof). As with moving between hot summers and cold winters, low ambient humidity in the colder months can damage your bread. Dry conditions remove moisture from rising doughs, creating a skin on any exposed surface. Once the skin is formed, not only will activity slow down, but the skin removes the dough's ability to stretch and will present challenges during shaping.
To avoid this, I like dough bowl with the lid tightened to cover my rising dough. If you followed our content on YouTubeyou've seen them in action. And when I don't have a jar with a lid, my favorite tool for protecting mixing bowls is a set bowl covers (which also double as banneton cover). They are indispensable. I avoid using towels and other covers that are not moisture resistant.
Photography and styling by Martin Philip
5) Protect your loaves
Like bulk fermentation, our shaped loaves are also susceptible to drying out or slowing down in these colder, drier winter conditions. They can develop a skin, which makes it difficult to score the loaves in shape before baking and results in more irregular oven spring.
Keep the patting habit going by covering the patch buns with some sort of moisture barrier. The debugging rooms I've mentioned, such as Brod and Taylor, are a great tool. I tend to use my microwave, as I mentioned. I add a jar of boiling water and keep the door closed. Smaller things like rolls can be resisted in a pan with lid or even placed inside a large, food-safe plastic bag. After all, there are many places to put one dough to rise and keep it on the way up.
So bakers, don't let cold temperatures and dry conditions hold back your great baking. With a few simple methods you can keep things growing and enjoy your best loaves, all year round.
XL Raisenne dough riser
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$64.78
$109.95
Cover photo by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Martin Philip.
