Used to rely on the timer on my oven for proofing dough but switched to a cheap kitchen scale 2 years ago after 4 loaves came out flat.

Realized my oven temp fluctuates so the timer was useless; now I weigh the dough and watch it rise by grams until it hits 50% bigger and I get consistent crumb every time, has anyone else ditched their timer for a scale?

3 comments

3 Comments

shanem376d ago

That tilt test your buddy uses actually worked for me for a while until I messed up two batches in a row and went back to basics. I bought a scale for $12 after reading about how consistent bakers track dough weight and it completely changed my results. Now I just set the bowl on the scale and wait until the grams tick up by 50% and I haven't had a flat loaf since.

finley_price247d ago

Ngl that makes a ton of sense, my oven's temp swings like crazy too so I just gave up on timers for dough. Last week I actually switched to using my phone's stopwatch instead of the oven timer, but I keep forgetting to start it so half the time I'm just guessing anyway. My buddy swears by the tilt test for proofing, he says the dough should wiggle like jello when it's ready, which honestly sounds more artistic than scientific but he gets good bread. Maybe I'll grab a scale and try your method, I'm tired of guessing and ending up with hockey pucks.

eva_adams686d ago

The tilt test thing your buddy mentioned actually got me into trouble, ha. I used to be convinced my dough was jiggly enough and then it'd turn into a pancake. What finally clicked for me was using a cheap scale and marking the bowl with a piece of tape where the dough should rise to. I got tired of eyeballing it and just started measuring the rise height instead of using timers or the jiggle test. For two dollars of tape and a dollar store scale, my loaves finally stopped looking like deflated footballs.