tpyos

content/post/2021/07/fridge-as-inoculation-room.md

@@ -8,17 +8,17 @@ tags:
     - cooking
 ---
 
-Sourdough likes `24 °C`---the _desired dough temperature_. This temperature is very difficult to maintain in a normal Belgian kitchen. Bakers usually calculate the water temperature (_l'eau de coulage_) they require before adding it to the mixture, based on the ambient room and flour temperature. However, keeping the dough at that point isn't easy: it cools down rapidly on my marble kitchen workspace. Another reason to work with `2 kg` of flour: more mass cools down less rapid. 
+Sourdough likes `24 °C`---the _desired dough temperature_. This temperature is very difficult to maintain in a normal Belgian kitchen. Bakers usually calculate the water temperature (_l'eau de coulage_) they require before adding it to the mixture, based on the ambient room and flour temperature. However, keeping the dough at that point isn't easy: it cools down rapidly on my marble kitchen workspace. Another reason to work with `2 kg` of flour: more mass cools down less rapidly. 
 
-A better solution than putting the rising dough on a "warm spot"---I hate cookbooks that give rough indications such as that one---is to constantly influence the room temperature within a closed environment: with a simple lamp and a thermostat.
+A better solution than putting the rising dough in a "warm spot"---I hate cookbooks that give rough indications such as that one---is to constantly influence the room temperature within a closed environment: with a simple lamp and a thermostat.
 
 ![](../fridgelamp.jpg "A probe, a spot, and a fan, sitting in a tr-no, wait, a fridge?")
 
-That closed environment was easy enough to find, and is well-isolated. Professional bakers have large walk-in rooms where carts full of sleepy dough can be pushed into. Both the temperature and the humidity of these rooms is configurable. I proof my dough overnight in my "regular" fridge, at `6 °C`. This is called a _retarded_ fermentation step: as the temperature drops, the yeasts become less active, giving the bacteria a chance to develop flavor (acetic and lactic acids). Bread baking takes up to 36 hours here, although many of those hours are just spent in wait mode.
+That closed environment was easy enough to find, and is well-isolated. Professional bakers have large walk-in rooms where carts full of sleepy dough can be pushed into. Both the temperature and the humidity of these rooms is configurable. I proof my dough overnight in my "regular" fridge, at `6 °C`. We don't eat meat so lower fridge temperatures aren't needed. This is called a _retarded_ fermentation step: as the temperature drops, the yeasts become less active, giving the bacteria a chance to develop flavor (acetic and lactic acids). Bread baking takes up to 36 hours here, although many of those hours are just spent in waiting mode.
 
 Converting a spare fridge into a machine that doesn't cool but keeps the temperature just above your average room temperature insures easily reproducible bread instead of having to deal with fluctuating temperatures. In my case, I mounted a `40 W` spotlight on a thermostat that can be configured once it's activated. The black wire in the photo above is the temperature probe of that thermostat. 
 
-A universal thermostat adapter plug that can monitor from `-40` to `99 °C` can be bought online, such as [this one on Conrad](http://www.conrad.be/ce/nl/product/615910/CE-UT-200-Universele-thermostaat-Tussenstekker-40-tot-99-C?queryFromSuggest=true). As not to waste too much energy, and because the fridge is quite large for a single lamp, I made sure the heat circulates somewhat by adding a simple `12 V` computer fan at the back: 
+A universal thermostat adapter plug that can monitor from `-40 °C` to `99 °C` can be bought online, such as [this one on Conrad](http://www.conrad.be/ce/nl/product/615910/CE-UT-200-Universele-thermostaat-Tussenstekker-40-tot-99-C?queryFromSuggest=true). As not to waste too much energy, and because the fridge is quite large for a single lamp, I made sure the heat circulates somewhat by adding a simple `12 V` computer fan at the back: 
 
 ![](../lampback.jpg "The back of the simple contraption.")
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ It is very easy to turn an abandoned refrigerator into a trusty inoculation room
 
 Homemade tempeh is also much tastier than the pre-packaged ones: it has a very strong aroma and it allows for endless variations (e.g. use other beans, let it ferment longer or shorter, ...). Make as much or as little as you want. In my case this was `1.5 kg` of beans for 3 EUR, excluding electricity costs. After 20 minutes, the incubation chamber is ready to go (at `32 °C`, coming from room temperature, which was a mere `19 °C` at that point). The [Rhizopus oligosporus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizopus_oligosporus) fungus itself generates a relatively large amount of heat after incubation for 14 hours: after 20 hours the thermostat consistently measured `34.5 °C`, while I had set the maximum at `32 °C`.
 
-I've had much success preparing both tempeh and koji, which is Japanese fermented rice using [Aspergillus oryzae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_oryzae). Buying fresh koji from an Asian supermarket is near impossible in my area, so what better way to solve this than to simply make it yourself? The koji disappears in things like amazake, miso, and shio koji. That's right, I make my own miso. From scratch. Thanks to this fridge hack. 
+I've had much success preparing both tempeh and koji, which is Japanese fermented rice using another fungus called [Aspergillus oryzae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus_oryzae). Buying fresh koji from an Asian supermarket is nearly impossible in my area, so what better way to solve this than to simply make it yourself? The koji disappears in things like amazake, miso, and shio koji. That's right, I make my own miso. From scratch. Thanks to this fridge hack. 
 
 And now you can too!