I own a small bakery that makes one product. I'm trying to convert an old walk in into a large proofing room. For the past year that I've owned the bakery, we've been playing it by ear with a proof time based on the temp and humidity in the bakery. I need to get it more consistent and would like to know what the ideal temperature and humidity for big batch proofing would be?
It would also be helpful to know what equipment I would need to make it work. The space is 100 square feet.
Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Maybe not the (financial!) answer you're after, but buy a commercial proofer and put it in the space?
But if making your own (which I'm in the process of doing), then from what I've gathered, and based on my own experiences, I'm looking at a proofing temperature of 22-24C and humidity of about 80%. Keeping the humidity up is to stop the dough forming a tough skin prior to baking.
For a DIY solution of that size... Insulated walls and a good air circulation system - that may even mean a baffle of some sorts along e.g. the back wall so you can suck air in from the middle and pump it out top & bottom - like a modern fan oven does. There are many commercial thermostat solutions out there - to control something like an electric element heater.
I'm using twin peltier heat pumps. Not the most efficient for cooling (I want to retard too) but we'll see. I can run them in reverse to heat the cabinet up. My box is very small though - the aim is to take 3 x GN 1/1 trays. (530mm long, 320 mm wide)
I've just re-read your post - did you mean a walk-in fridge? If so, it probably already has fans, so just provide a heat source (and humidity) and as a bonus, use the fridge part, if still working as a retarder... ?
-Gordon
Proofing rooms of old were simply areas that draughts could be excluded and any big temperature variations eliminated, So if you can achieve that you are well on the way to success. If you are finishing your doughs at 28 c and the area that the doughs are being Bulk Fermented in is close to that you have the ideal situation.
However if you are trying to have a walk in final proofing area for made up product there is a cheap way to achieve this, In a small hot bread shop that i worked in the proover that we had was a vinyl curtained enclosure off the side of the oven that we could roll racks into. We had a gas ring and a 25 litre drum of water placed on it that provided both warmth and humidity,
regards Derek
Sorry, I have no knowledge on this topic, but I do have a concern. How does one keep a room with warm temperature and high humidity clean of mold, mildew and other bacteria that likes these conditions as much as the yeast does? I assume in commercial proofers you can take out all the trays to wash and the other parts can be washed down easily or does good ventilation take care of that? i've been curious about that for some time.