SC - Cold-rising doughs

[Morgan Cain]

Lady Katherine McGuire asked:

>>> My questions is how do you get bread dough to raise during
>>> the night or early morn hours in order to have fresh bread
>>> and cinnamon  rolls for breakfast.  It's always too cold
>>> where we camp.

I often leave bread to rise in my 'fridge overnight if I want fresh bread in the morning at home.  This means about 40 degrees (F).  (If it is "always" colder than this where you camp, you might need to look for other places to camp.....<s>)  This also means a 6-10 hour period for the rising.  You can look for specific "cool-rise" recipes but I have found that almost anything works well enough.  Give it a test some time with a favourite bread recipe and see how it works.

The other option is one I learned while doing historical re-creation before I joined the SCA, when we did 1850's prairie stuff.  You make a "warmer" for the bread, something like an incubator for chicks, but for bread.  I do have some old recipes that advise if the kitchen is cold and you have a pilot light, put the dough in the oven during the rise.  While camping, I guess you could use a box or designated cooler with a hot water bottle or some hot rocks or bricks.  Wrapping the warm dough well in a woolen blanket helps trap the heat in, but you need a large enough covered container that the dough has adequate room to rise without pushing off the covering, or you get fuzzy dough and a gunky blanket.

BTW, I should be able to get to Ansteorra Kingdom Warlord, depending upon (a) if that is not the weekend of Known World A&S, and (b) if I can figure out where it is.  King's College is the same weekend as the main part of Lilies War, and I do have some priorities......(fireworks! parties! lake! parties!)

                        --= Morgan