Instant-read probe thermometer

[PizzaJNKY]

I've never baked before, and have been reading a bread baking book, trying to learn, before I start baking in my WFO. One of the tools I need is an Instant-read probe thermometer.

Here comes the rookie question...I have a meat thermometer, and am not sure if it is the same thing. Is there a thermometer that is specific to dough?

[telehort]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

It's not specific to bread, but a thermopen is the way to go. I have had one for a couple years and have nothing but great things to say about it..they are a bit pricey, but they are worth it.

[CajunKnight]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

The meat thermometer will work in a pinch but the problem is that it is not INSTANT READ. The time it takes to get the temp on the standard meat thermometer is time wasted if the bread is not at correct temp. This time will slow cooking process enough to sometimes lessen the quality of a great bread.

[RTflorida]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

I picked up two of them at Target...think they were about $12 each. Seem to work great - I tested them against each other...both had the same readings.

RT

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

Another vote for the thermapen. Much faster than the $12 unit...but the $12 is much much better than not using a thermometer...

Thermapen Digital Thermometer

Drake

[Frances]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

You watch out with those things, they can be dangerous! Read in the paper that some guy recently stabbed someone in the back with a meat thermometer...

I just knock my bread on the bottom to check that its done.

[RTflorida]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

$100 for a cooking thermometer? No thanks. That is more than I paid for my IR.....and it goes to 1100 degrees, accross the room, heck - down the block (not with great accuracy at that distance).
my $12 pen style also gives a reading in just a few seconds, and is not another expensive toy (I have plenty) I have to worry about dropping, losing...and can be replaced in 10 minutes for $12.
To each his own, I guess...I just don't need or use one enough to justify the cost.

RT

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

Geez, Frances... What the heck is going on in Switzerland? ...Stabbing people with thermometers. I've taken guns, butcher knives, ball bats and even a homemade bomb from people. Not one thermometer.

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

I know $100 is a lot for a thermometer, but I use it all the time. Measuring the dough temp, measuring the flour temp, water temp, roasts, bread. I used the other type for many years and they are very good, but this one is truly instant and digital. I got mine as a Christmas present, but now I am hooked. If I lost it or it broke I would buy another in a second. Same with the IR therm. Lots of folks don't use them, but once you start, you are hooked.

I have been baking about 20lbs of bread on average. Once I have that kind of investment (in flour and time!) on bread, I want it to come out right. The difference between a loaf at a 190 degrees internal temp and 200 degrees is significant, and I want to know when the bread is done without letting a lot of heat out of the oven.

[Wiley]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

So Drake,
So just what is your process for checking? Do you pull one loaf from the oven and stab it? What about different sized loaves in the same batch, check the smallest first then proceed to the next bigger? That would seem logical. Is the oven open or closed while checking or is the process so fast that it doesn't matter?
Thanks,
Wiley

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

Wiley,
I generally bake loaves of the same size at the same time, but I do find that the ones closer to the walls bake faster. So if I am doing baguettes, I take the door off, pull a loaf from the middle and drag it to the entry area then flip it over and test from the bottom, then test a loaf from near the wall the same way. Then put the door back on quickly (if needed). In later baking cycles (I have done as many as 4 bakes) I may have a large sourdough and a dense rye in the same bake, and they would be done at different times, and for that matter be done at different internal temps (200-205 for the sourdough and maybe 195 for the rye) so I would take the temp of both of those loaves.

Again to the cost of the thermometer. Everyone has something they indulge in, for me it is cooking. I have a bunch of the big Le Creuset pots and they are way too expensive, but I don't own any expensive running shoes or a sports car...

Drake

[Wiley]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

Thanks Drake,
Oddly enough just last evening I was reading in Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Bakers Apprentice" about the need for the internal temp of bread to reach 180 F for proper gelatinization. I think I'll spring for the better quality instant thermometer. After all it's only the price of a tankful of gas :-)
Wiley

[asudavew]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

Geez, Frances... What the heck is going on in Switzerland? ...Stabbing people with thermometers. I've taken guns, butcher knives, ball bats and even a homemade bomb from people. Not one thermometer.

The stabber probably thought the victim had a cold and was checking for a fever.

[CajunKnight]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

Roflmao!!!

[SpringJim]

Re: Instant-read probe thermometer

I know CJ swears by the thermopen. Used it for everything....steaks, dough, bread....pricey yes....maybe someday...fathers day?

So Frances, was he done or not?