"Ed" > wrote in message ups.com...

> [ ... ]
> Given enough time you will have a digital thermometer, an electronic
> scale, French sea salt, and a portable wine cooler for 16 hour
> extended proofs. The results won't be much different though - trust me
> (well at least with the wine cooler - don't get one).

I think that dial thermometers are nice, but they, for some reason, are
not sold in consumer stores. I think they should sell for about $5.
The glass on mine got broken, and I am trying to find a replacement.
Digital is unnecessary, and adds fragility. Amazon has a nice selection
of kitchen thermometers. A mechanical over thermometer is nice if you
don't trust your oven thermostat.

Salt is salt. Some kinds are more dirty.

By me, volume measures which measure to the top are easiest, but it
is nice to have some sort of a scale to find out how much a cup of one's
flour weighs. Tomato sauce comes in neat little 1-cup (8 fl. oz.) cans.
Lots of things come in 2-cup cans. Big bean cans contain 3.5 cups,
which is the right amount of flour for one bread loaf.

A rectangle of laminate ("Formica") sharpened on one edge with a
file is very handy as a counter scraper. Mine has a handle on the
edge opposite the sharpened side.

A really good thing to have is a plastic cover to put over the rising
loaves so they do not dry out. I use part of a clothing storage box
for that. Actually, I have such covers in several sizes. For cold
days, I have a base that adds the right amount of heat for loaf
rising. Actually several bases in several sizes.

In other words, I am saying that I think that you don't have to get
a lot of fancy stuff in order to make SD bread, if you get my drift.
Bread loaves rise fine at ordinary household temperatures, and
starter cultures likewise grow just fine, so temperature control is
an optional luxury. But, compared with the various other possibilities
for dicking around with your dough, it rather makes the most sense.

--
Dicky