Calling all bread bakers! {And potential yogurt makers!}
The Brod & Taylor Bread Proofer folds up flat, making it easier to store, and works just as well as commercial proofers costing 10x as much.
There are two things you should know about this product review right from the start:
- I bake bread at least once a week, every single week, and have been for over 20 years, because homemade bread ROCKS.
- No one is paying me to write this, but the folks at Pleasant Hill Grain did send me a Brod and Taylor Bread Proofer to test out with the understanding that if I liked the product I would tell you all about it. If I didn’t like the proofer, I would simply send it back.
Spoiler alert! I didn’t send the bread proofer back.
Because I kinda love it.
I have been baking bread all these years with the assumption that bread proofers were relegated to the realm of commercial bakeries and kitchens with waaaaaaay fancier ovens that what you’ll find in my home.
So, I was excited by the potential of a relatively inexpensive bread proofer designed for home bakers. I was also somewhat wary. The last thing I need is another kitchen appliance to store. My appliance and cookware collection has already overflowed into a corner of our basement and most days I feel that I need to figure out what to get rid of, not how to add another thing to the pile.
{UPDATE: In May of 2020, my husband and I sold our house and moved into a 5th wheel RV so we could travel the country full time. So, I think it's safe to say that I finally got all those kitchen appliances under control. 🙂 In preparation for the move I had to make some difficult decisions about what I would move into my new tiny kitchen and this bread proofer made the cut.
Not only did I bring it with me into our new tiny home on wheels, I use it more than ever. As we travel the country, I'm learning to bake in a wide variety of climates and being able to control the temperature and humidity of bread dough is essential. Because this proofer collapses into a nice, thin rectangle, I was easily able to find a storage place for it in our RV.}
Second, I wasn’t so sure that a lightweight proofer with collapsible sides could offer much benefit. As I said, I bake bread ALL. THE. TIME. I’ve gotten along just fine for years without a bread proofer and wasn’t sure there was much to gain from adding one now.
Still, I agreed to try it. And, it’s fantastic. Since receiving the proofer, I’ve made 8 loaves of Cinnamon Bread, 2 loaves of Simple White Bread, 2 loaves of Whole Wheat Bread, a batch of Dinner Rolls, and 4 loaves of sourdough – all using the bread proofer.
Every loaf I’ve baked since receiving the proofer has turned out better than normal. Using it is simple– set it up, fill the little tray with water, and set it to the temperature you want the dough to rise at. Not only does it allow you to control the temperature of your dough, it creates a slightly humid environment that is ideal for encouraging yeast development.
This is especially important for breads like sourdough. Sourdough starters can be finicky so it’s important to give the dough a warm, humid place to rise. In the past, I let the dough rise inside the oven alongside a pan of hot, steamy water. This works pretty well, except you have to remember to keep refreshing the water as it cools. (My favorite recipe is from Tartine Bakery.)
Also, more than once I’ve forgotten about the bread dough rising in my oven and turned it on to preheat, ruining the bread dough and creating a doughy mess inside my oven. Once I did this while the bread was rising in a plastic bowl, which proceeded to melt all over the inside of my oven. Not a super fun experience.
I am happy to say, there will be no more bread dough rising inside my oven from now on. The Brod and Taylor Bread Proofer creates a humid environment and keeps the temperature of the dough consistent throughout the entire proofing process without tying up my oven. It’s awesome.
If you bake bread even semi-regularly, I highly recommend this bread proofer. It makes bread baking easier and will help you bake consistently gorgeous loaves of bread. It folds up flat, making it easier to store, and works just as well as commercial proofers costing 10x as much. Totally worth it.
My next experiment: Yogurt Making
After receiving the proofer, I was super intrigued to learn that it can be used to make yogurt. I haven’t tried this yet, but plan to very soon and will let you all know how it goes. We go through a lot of yogurt in this house and I love the idea of making it on our own. I’ve heard that homemade yogurt can be healthier and have a more delicious, complex flavor than most store-bought varieties. That’s all the reason I need to give it a shot.
TaleLady says
Hi Rebecca,
since you write that you are using the proofer for years now. Have you ever tried to use it as a slow cooker? And if you did: how was/are the result/s?
I‘m asking as a way to figure out if its just me (my used recipe) or if the gadget is not really useful as a slow cooker.
As a proofer and fermenter it works great though and I like it very much.
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi there! I haven't used it as a slow cooker, just as a bread proofer. I have an Instant Pot with a slow cooker setting, so I just use that when I want to cook something low and slow. Has the proofer not worked well for you as a slow cooker?
TaleLady says
Hi again.
I don‘t own a slow cooker or an Instant Pot and they are advertising this appliance as a „Folding Proofer & Slow Cooker“. So I tried a stew once - it didn’t come out as I expected: while the meat seemed more or less cooked trough some of the vegetables were not only undercooked but still raw.
As I sad it does its work so well as a proofer and fermenter. So I thought maybe to find people (other than the sales people from B&T) that are using the proofer regularly and have tried it as a slow cooker. But no luck so far... maybe the „slow cooker“ ad is just a sales trick to justify the risen price of the „new“ product.
However: thank you!
Stephanie says
Rebecca,
I appreciate stumbling upon your review. I'm brand new to bread baking the last few months and mastered a beautiful French bread recipe letting it rise on the counter. I couldn't wait to try my new bread proofer! I've tried it twice now and both times resulted in kind of a blob of bread that was rather spongey. I tried two different temperatures and let it proof about an hour (double in size). It seemed fine when I did a final knead, then when I shaped it, it's as if it couldn't hold it's shape and just spread wide. Do you have any tips on how I can utilize this new proofer and have my crusty, beautiful bread back?
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Stephanie! How frustrating. It sounds like your dough is over proofing. Over-proofing happens when the dough has been allowed to rise too long. When this happens, the gluten in the dough is over-stretched, and unable to maintain the structure of the bread. To know if dough is over-proofed, poke it gently with your finger or knuckle. If it springs back slowly, it's perfect. If it doesn't spring back at all, it's over-proofed. The bread proofer might be speeding up the proofing process for you, so the amount of time your dough needs to rise in the proofer might be less than the time it needs to rise without it. Does that make sense?
Most of the time, you can rescue over-proofed dough. Simply press down on the dough to remove the gas, then reshape and allow it to rise again, but for less time.
Does that help?