dough bowl?

[George]

Do any of the bread bakers on the forum use an old fashioned wooden dough bowl for proofing your dough? Or for making Grandma's biscuits?

Spence

 

[sidelock]

I have never used a wooden bowl, mine was plastic, used on extended hunting trips of a week to a month or more to mix my biscuit dough. I did not take a starter with me and never cleaned the bowl. after about a week or so the dough leavings in the bowl seemed become sort of a starter and made some very fine bread. I enjoy your posts!!!! :thumbsup:

 

[coloradoclyde]

I don't and never have..
I don't even use a bowl other than a stand mixer....I have a wood topped island I do all my work on.....If mixing by hand I use the "well" method.

I suspect wooden dough bowls were popular because people didn't have counter and table space like we do today... :idunno:

I see lots of old dough bowls at antique shops...

Interesting subject.... :thumbsup: :hatsoff: op:

 

[George]

I have a nice big one of Kentucky poplar wood. It's great for rising your bread, and gives me pleasure to use because my Grandmother used one to make those delicious buttermilk biscuits every day, at least once. She didn't bake loaf bread that I ever knew of, but was one of those country ladies who mixed her biscuits in her flour supply, just put the ingredients into a well and noodled around a bit, took the dough out, rolled and cut the biscuits. I use mine more for proofing loaf bread, but have fiddled with doing biscuits her way, not terribly successful.





CC, if you use a dough bowl you still need a work surface.

Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

I suppose now I need a dough bowl?... :haha:

Most Of the dough bowls I have seen aren't nearly that big or deep. :hmm:

 

[George]

Most Of the dough bowls I have seen aren't nearly that big or deep. :hmm:

Many recipes from the day used really large amounts...

"Take half a peck of flower, and mix it with an eggshell full of carraway seeds and half a pound of sugar;"

"Take a peck of the flour of peas, the like quantity of oatmeal,"

"LAY down a Peck of Flower; work it up with six Pounds of Butter"

"...then the night before you intend to bake, put the said leaven to a peck of flour, and work them well together with warm water. Let it lie in a dry wooden vessel, well covered with a linen cloth and a blanket, and keep it in a warm place. This dough kept warm will rise again next morning, and will be sufficient to mix with two or three bushels of flour, being worked up with warm water and a little salt..."

For those batches of bread they most likely used a dough box, something like this.





Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

Ok!...Now you stumped me.... :shocked2:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yes in fact I just bought a new wooden dough bowl at the market fair last month.

LD

 

[NeilMacleod]

Ceramic bowl, heavy and about gallon size.

 

[George]

Ok!...Now you stumped me.... :shocked2:

Never seen a dough box?

Spence

 

[nhmoose]

Nope, been to many auctions and never stated as such

 

[coloradoclyde]

Ok!...Now you stumped me.... :shocked2:

Never seen a dough box?

Spence

Don't recall....But then I didn't take my gingko today....or did I? :hmm:

Do you mean a proof box?

 

[BullRunBear]

We have a huge ceramic bowl picked up at an Amish store in Indiana but I only use it as a dough bowl if making many loaves as gifts. My grandmother had a similar one on her kitchen counter at all times but she was feeding a husband, 12 kids and eventually many grandkids. With all her cooking their kitchen was always warm, even in the middle of a New England winter. Perfect for raising dough. These days I just use the bowl from our stand mixer for an ocassional loaf. (Have to watch the carbs, darn it!)

But the ceramic bowl is great for the salads I like to make from our garden. Big as it is, it fits on the bottom shelf of the fridge, takes a long lasting chill and keeps the salad crisp and cool for a long time.

Jeff

 

[coloradoclyde]

Did you say "Amish"...."Stand mixer"......

Here ya go..... :haha:

https://youtu.be/l2AVQ77kBkg

 

[satx78247]

I have my G-G-G-Aunt Millie's BIG wooden dough bowl, which she got as a wedding present in the post-WBTS period, when she & her groom (Jackson F. Redfern) emigrated from Marshall County, MS to Upshur County, TX to farm.
(As best as I can tell from property/tax records, the newlyweds arrived in mid 1866.)

I believe that it's made of chestnut.

yours, satx

 

[George]

It's an all-purpose box, proofing is one of its uses. Also called a kneading box. Many of them had integral legs, stood at a convenient working height. Others had a separate small table/platform made for them to sit on as part of the set, which did the same thing. Others, like mine, were just the box, could be used on a tabletop, etc. The lid could be used as a working surface for smaller batches. Both of mine are about 30" long.
https://www.google.com/search?q=do...G7P7aAhVG5YMKHedMAMcQ_AUICygC&biw=969&bih=746

Some people kept their flour supply in them, made their biscuits right in the box in the middle of the flour.

That small wooden strip in mine is a proofing gauge, I think. It rests in small notches at the ends and is free to move. Placed in position over the new dough, when the dough had expanded enough to move it you knew it had doubled, etc.

Another one.



I've never used mine.

Spence

 

[BullRunBear]

Clyde, Thanks for the link and the laugh. A hand crank Kitchen Aid never would have ocurred to me.

I guess the conversion makes sense if no electricity is available, especially for the attachments like grinding and so forth. The accessories are well made. For bread dough I think it would be cheaper just to knead it by hand.

Jeff

 

[coloradoclyde]

How about this Spence?......

https://youtu.be/MJoxBN_Rzvw

 

[George]

Love it. Thanks for the link.

That's the way my Grandmother made her biscuits every day for most of her adult life. As a kid I was fascinated to watch her do it, and I've had few biscuits since which came close to them.

Spence

 

[Loyalist Dave]

DANG!

I'm on a diet right now, and that breakfast compared to the meager fare that I had this morning, is KILLING ME

I like the bowl, the octagon shape at the edge..., I wonder if that's more than decoration, I wonder if that gives it some sort of strength against cracking?

LD