Carolyn wrote the following:
>
> You can use your oven to keep sourdough starter warm or even to let bread
> rise by turning on the oven light, placing the bowl in the oven and closing
> the door. This will work as well or better than a gas pilot light (with
> electric ignition these days very few of us still have a constant pilot
> anyway). I have an oven thermometer setting on an oven rack and the temp
> hovers around 85F. with this method in my oven.
Janet wrote:
Yes, this does work very well. The only thing is, be sure to
put
up a note somewhere really obvious that the starter is in there if
someone
else may cook in your kitchen. I lost my favorite starter when it was
in
the oven and my husband turned it on to pre-heat for something he was
going to cook, decided to go take a shower while it was heating up, and
came back to find that it had cooked into a solid mass.
Cheers,
Janet
This used to happen to me on a regular basis until I taped a small
magnet to the back of an index card, wrote "Bread rising in the oven" on
the front, and started diligently setting it *over* the oven control
knob.
Besides using the oven light (or pilot, if you have one), you can also
use votive candles, and vary the temp by increasing or decreasing their
number.
John
John