How Bread Dough Temperature Affects Fermentation | Principles of Baking

Temperature control is one of the most important parts of breadmaking. I sometimes even say that temperature is one of the most important ingredients although it is not an ingredient at all. I have made videos detailing the process of temperature control and demonstrated formulas that can be used for calculating the temperature of ingredients to reach a certain final dough temperature.

The ideal temperature for your bread dough will be determined by the temperature of the environment around it. If you live in a place with a hot climate or if you just have a warm kitchen, then you will need to make a cooler dough. If you live in a cold climate or if your kitchen is cold, then you will need to make a warmer dough.

Often, we must adjust the temperature of our dough when baking through the seasons. Sticking to certain temperatures and staying in control makes the process of breadmaking predictable and consistent. For the most part the ideal temperature for fermenting wheat-based bread dough is between 24C – 26C (75F -79F).

I know that a regular white loaf with 1.2% yeast should go through bulk fermentation at 24C (75F) in about 3 hours. So, if my kitchen is around that temperature, then aiming for a dough temperature of the same degree will make the dough rise in that time. This allows me to plan my day around that loaf of bread.

Knowing that I can also speed up or slow down the process by adjusting the final temperature of the dough. If my kitchen is cooler, then I will make sure to raise the dough temperature or if I’m at home all day and not in a hurry, then perhaps I will make a cooler dough and leave it in a cool room to take its time and be ready whenever.

I’m sure you can see what I mean about being in control. The bread should not be in charge.

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[ChainBaker]

📖 Read more in the link below the video ⤴

🌾 If you would like to support my work click here ⤵

🔪 Find all the things I use here ⤵

🍞 Share your bread pictures here ⤵

[matthewbbenton]

In his bread cookbook, Ken Forkish says to think of time and temperature as ingredients. I’ve always liked that.

[timmerrill]

Excellent video. Time and temperature are the key to baked bread meeting our expectations. Both time and temperature will affect the final taste of the dough regardless of the recipe type used.

Had these three breads been allowed to rise to the same level, a longer time for the cold dough, and a shorter time for the very warm dough, their final appearance would have been more similar, but the taste noticeably different.

While a colder dough can be fermented for longer to reach a proper rise, it will taste different than either a dough that rises in the optimum temperature range, or one that had a faster rise from being too warm and over proofed a good bit as shown in this video.

When dough ferments, two events affect flavor. The yeast, a fungus, produces lactose or dairy type flavor note. The bacteria present in the flour produces sour notes. Temperature management of all ingredients and components are important to ensure the dough achieves your desired result.

When dough is cold and takes longer to rise, the yeast slows down a lot, repressing the dairy flavor notes. which causes the rising to be slow. However, the colder temperature of the dough does not slow down the bacterial action nearly as much, so the colder dough becomes more tangy or sour.

When the yeast finally warms up enough in colder dough to rise in earnest, the dairy notes won't be able to catch up to balance the abundant sour bacterial flavors that have been happening all along and will still be happening until the bake, regardless of the cooler temperature. This results in a more tangy tasting bread. Nothing wrong with it, if that's your goal. That's why many folks like to make sourdough bread.

Dough that is too warm and rises rapidly simply doesn't have enough time to give the bread many dairy or sour flavors, so it comes out bland. Totally edible and usable, but it will be bland. If spreads or toppings are going to be used, then it may not be an issue as they will bring flavor, but on it's own, it will be bland.

Dough that rises around that 25C/77F range, will have a nice balance of both kinds of flavor notes. That's what most would call a good, well flavored bread. Regardless of the temperature of the dough, it's important to bake it when it looks ready, and not after a particular set duration of time. That will give you the best looking final bake, though the flavor will be impacted based on the total rise and fermentation time needed to get the right looking bread.

[doremiancleff]

I've been getting around with my cookign skills for past 2 years, but for some reason baking was always failing me.
The way you construct and explain things is a godsend, since you account for all the differences and making it not as riggid as other recipe videos that pretty much just say "yeah, mix it all and get results".

[LarryaproudU.S.citizen]

I am having difficulty in a tropical climate without confidence in what I am trying to do. I buy bulk flour unsure of what I am getting. No controlled temp, likely 90 deg and every loaf is an experiment. I adopted a sweet flavor for my local friends, add essential wheat gluten. It is difficult to make bread here to make a nice bread. I learned to respect our bakers . Thank you for your scientific approach. I cook as a hobby and not a buisness. BTW my bread is like my mother made for me many years ago.

[marjamerryflower]

Since watching your videos i become more aware of the circumstances like temperature. My kitchen was 16 degrees Celsius the other day. I left my rolls to proof for 2, 5 hours before i thought they were ready to go into the oven. I am very grateful for your channel.

[JRattheranch]

Because, as a Welshman, I cannot find any edible bread here in Belarus, I have really got into making my own bread here! And this video is absolutely replicating my own observations! Really enjoyed watching you back up my own assesment! 👍👍

[Brandon_Balentine]

I didn't pay attention to temperature control until I started watching your videos. You put much more importance on it than other youtube bakers. I do like checking where my dough temperature is so I know whether to expect it to ferment at the same rate as your recipe or to adjust the time longer or shorter.

[jeffreyhoon]

I live in a tropical country so it's quite warm all year round and the definite best thing for me to do when mixing is to take some chilled water or milk. It really does help with controlling the fermentation rather than how some online recipes ask to bloom the yeast in microwaved water or milk. Recipes are always guidelines for sure but the best teacher is definitely experience since environment, climate, ingredients and temperature will all affect your final product.

I personally love doing dinner rolls and making it into miniature loaves, they make nice mini sandwiches.

[Carnei]

Well, now I know why it takes so long to get my dough to rise. It's too cold in my kitchen.
Thanks a bunch for taking the time to educate noobs like me :-)

I've only baked bread twice in my life, both of those times were recently.
Lookig forwards to getting it right! Because homemade bread is so incredibly tasty!

Alright...have a great day!

[anthonynastasijr]

I just started getting into bread making and started out just using hot water from the tap at 120 degrees f. When the dough rose very high, I thought I was doing it right. Since I started following your techniques a few weeks ago, I now use 75 degree water with the preferment and dough. Loaf comes out beautiful. Thanks.

[janegardener]

I love these comparison videos. Thank you!

[lamenamethefirst]

This was excellent. As usual. Knowing that everyone's kitchen is different and that temperature really is an ingredient is so important. Perhaps you could do a video on how baking temperature affects the bread next? That would be interesting to see.

[GlazeonthewickeR]

Crazy helpful video as always, Charlie. Thank you once again!!!

[Homested_Happenings]

I work in a commercial bakery (Nabisco) and make the dough for Premium Crackers. Your videos have helped me understand the dough making and proofing process. Thank you.

[schrodingerscat]

When making pizza dough I always ferment it in the fridge over a couple of days, that way it has loads of flavour and cooks nice and crispy. For a loaf I generally keep it slightly below optimal temperature over about 6 hours which produces really flavourful bread which is great for sandwiches. As you pointed out fermenting too fast gives a bland bread that is no better than store bought.

[prebenkul]

i literally never thought about this. I learned in school to use body temp and my family believes the same bec less or more and you kill yeast. But now i know why my breads rise so much and so fast! and sometimes it never rises! Also i usually only proof once, so i'm gonna try folding and doing it multiple times to test it out!

[Maplecook]

Thank you for covering so many aspects of the art!

[almonies]

Fascinating. I've been reading up about proofing boxes. Just an enclosed box where you put your bowl with dough and a bowl of steaming water. This is meant to help you get a good temp in colder climates🤞. Everywhere in my house is a lovely 17℃.

[jmoyet]

These videos are awesome, and I am definitely learning a lot from these comparison videos as a beginner home bread baker