Baking sourdough is hard. There's so much jargon that it can feel overwhelming before you've even made a sourdough starter. I was overwhelmed with the whole concept of sourdough bannetons (would an Amazon banneton suffice, or should I get a Flourside banneton?), bulk fermentation (is that the same as counter proofing?), and shaping (what do you mean, I need to draw patterns in my bread?).
It goes without saying that once you crack the jargon, sourdough starter proofing is the trickiest part of the baking journey. And then you need to calculate the bulk fermentation time. And then the whole hydration discourse? Honestly, no wonder I was scared of sourdough until very recently (despite making a weekly loaf since January this year).
The reason why I was scared of my sourdough was that I didn't understand bulk fermentation. I used to proof sourdough in the oven with the light on. Now, I bulk proof my sourdough in my favorite innovation of 2025: the Sourhouse DoughBed.
Bulk fermentation woes are no more
It's usually recommended that you bulk ferment sourdough at a temperature of about 78°F. As it rarely gets to that temperature in the U.K., I had to proof my dough in the oven with the light on. Unfortunately, that meant the dough often got too hot. This resulted in either overproofed or dried-out dough, which is undesirable.
Now, with the DoughBed, that's a thing of the past. The DoughBed keeps my sourdough at about 78°F indefinitely, which is optimal for consistent, even proofing.
As you can see, the DoughBed's glass proofing bowl is wide and long, which means it has a large surface area against the heating mat. Naturally, this results in an even and consistent proof. You can even watch the fermentation bubbles form during proofing!
But when is proofing finished? Usually, you're supposed to bulk ferment until your dough has doubled in size. Sourhouse provides some 'tattoos' (stickers) you can stick on the side of the DoughBed's glass proofing bowl. These stickers have volume levels so you can easily check when your dough is ready to go.
Not just a one trick pony
Although the DoughBed has a very specific use case, it's not restricted to just that. The glass proofing bowl is made of borosilicate glass and is oven-proof up to 550°F. So while you can mix, proof, and bake your sourdough in the same glass bowl, it also doubles up as an emergency baking dish during busy periods.
Imagine it's Christmas or Thanksgiving — you need to make one more tray of mac and cheese or casserole, but you don't have any more baking dishes. Ta-da! The DoughBed proofing dish comes in clutch.
It's dishwasher safe, too, so the cleanup will be as straightforward as the baking itself. Although if you've been using the 'tattoo' (a sticker), you'll need to take that off before oven baking, as it is definitely not oven-proof.
However...
The only downside of the DoughBed is that it's very expensive for what it is. It's basically an ovenproof baking dish, an electric heating mat, and a lid, for $279. You can easily wrangle your own DIY DoughBed with a glass dish, some kind of electric heater (make sure it can go as low as 78°F, though) and a lid.
But if you want to get the easiest, most foolproof, simplest method, then the DoughBed is the clear winner. I wouldn't really want to have to figure out how to balance a baking dish on an electric blanket. Come to think of it — wouldn't that be a fire hazard?
If I were you, I'd take the easy (and safe) route by using the Sourhouse DoughBed. This marvelous product takes all the headache out of proofing dough — not just sourdough — and is a massive amount cheaper than getting a proofing drawer installed in your oven.
Now I've made perfect loaves with the DoughBed, I can't ever go back.
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