Help! Can I prove dough in my oven?

[Happydaze2]

Need help asap as about to attempt making hot cross buns! I have a bog standard electric oven and wondering if I can heat it up at a low temperature, switch off then put my dough in there to - hopefully! - rise? Any advice gratefully received 😊

You can prove dough at room temperature. If you don’t think it has risen enough, give it longer.

PS I would normally put it in the airing cupboard but it’s full of drying laundry plus not v warm in there atm

You can even prove dough in the fridge. It just takes longer, but also tastes better.

I usually leave mine overnight at fridge temperature

Best place to prove dough IMO is the airing cupboard. Or the fridge overnight. Countertop is somewhere in-between.

The lowest setting on my oven is 40C, which is a bit warm for proving. You could try putting the dough in the cold oven and turning off when it reaches 40C.

I don't have an airing cupboard, so I would do it inside a plastic bag on a south-facing windowsill.

If you have a light in your oven, that creates enough heat for proving

I've been known to put a couple of inches of hot water in the bottom of the sink, chopping board over the top, and dough on top of that. Works quite well.

Yes, I deliberately bought an oven you can set at 30 C for this very purpose. Works perfectly. If you can't set it that low, you can put a bowl of hot water under your dough in the oven with it off, the confined space and insulation will mean it is warmer than just being out at normal room temperature.

On the counter in theory is fine but depends on the room temp of your house and how much time you have to spare. For 90% of the year I'd be waiting hours for it to rise on counter and I have actually found it doesn't even rise overnight in fridge until I take it out again in the morning

I use microwave, boil a mug of water in there for a few minutes and then pop in the dough and the warm steamy atmosphere does the trick. For trays of things that won't fit in microwave I use the oven, I preheat it to lowest setting for maybe 5 mins then turn it off and put in my tray. Usually works fine too, I never leave it turned on when something is in there. The light in my oven or microwave generates no heat, I assume it LED!

Thanks for all your tips. I heated the oven at 40 for 2 mins then switched off at the kneading stage. Dough has now been in there 45 mins and hardly any rise. Epic fail! Gutted ☹️

Enriched dough takes longer to rise, you might just need to leave it a few hours.

It’s not an epic fail you just need to leave it longer! 45 mins would be a short rise for many doughs and sounds very short indeed for an enriched dough like hot cross buns

I heat up a jug of water in my microwave until is nice and steamy and then put the bowl of dough in there to prove. When the dough needs its second prove I do the same and put the tin in there. Might not fit a baking tray though

Dh usually puts the dough bowl in the oven (switched off) with a bowl of boiling water on the bottom. Leaves for an hour or so depending what he's making. Seems to work.

My sourdough dough takes 8-10 hours to double in size! You need to give it time 🙂

Give it more time. You could try putting it in a sunny spot or cover with oiled clingfilm (so it doesn’t stick) and put it on a cooling rack over a bowl of hot water.

2 minutes for an oven to heat is nothing really, I think it will take longer, I give at least 5 maybe even 10 until I can put my hand in and feel there is heat in there.

Update! It took 4+ hours but the dough did eventually double in size so I continued the process and finally produced a dozen buns! They are very far from perfect but they taste good so I’m happy. Thanks again for all your help 😊