Baywatcher
Well-Known Member
Maybe this can save folks some money. It's *way* more controllable than a hotplate/griddle in terms of dialing in a specific hold temp. If you're one of the people who likes to purge at (IMO) crazy hot temps, you can put a piece of tile on top of the wire rack, and it will hold temp at 140-180 degrees.
The Brod & Taylor digital bread proof box ($150 at Amazon) is made for long-term temp maintenance between 80-120 degrees F. The stainless steel bowl sits on top of a wire rack that keeps it off the bottom of the proof box (a metal plate that acts as a heating element). In practice, the material temperature hovers at 8-12 degrees over the controller set point due to the heating element warming up at 140-180 degrees. You do *not* want the bowl to have contact with the bottom of the proofer (a correctly-sized wire rack comes with the proofer). Cut a notch in the side for the hose. If you need a taller container, you could easily make set of sides out of 1/8" plywood or acrylic. Set at 96 degrees, it holds material temp between 105-108 for as long as you want. I've backed it down as low as 100.
The Brod & Taylor digital bread proof box ($150 at Amazon) is made for long-term temp maintenance between 80-120 degrees F. The stainless steel bowl sits on top of a wire rack that keeps it off the bottom of the proof box (a metal plate that acts as a heating element). In practice, the material temperature hovers at 8-12 degrees over the controller set point due to the heating element warming up at 140-180 degrees. You do *not* want the bowl to have contact with the bottom of the proofer (a correctly-sized wire rack comes with the proofer). Cut a notch in the side for the hose. If you need a taller container, you could easily make set of sides out of 1/8" plywood or acrylic. Set at 96 degrees, it holds material temp between 105-108 for as long as you want. I've backed it down as low as 100.
