20240825 Multipurpose Walmart Toaster Oven Proofer - Vollkornbrot with CLAS
Over the years, you’ve no doubt heard me rant about the Brod & Taylor 'proofer'. Anyone who’s used it knows it has a major design flaw—its insulation is terrible. This leads to frustrating temperature fluctuations, which are a real pain in the 
when you need precise temperature control, like when I’m making a thermophilic starter. They market it as a multipurpose, space-saving tool, but it can’t even do its main job right: being a reliable proofer. I’ve felt completely ripped off paying hundreds of dollars for a piece of crap like that.
While I had no better choice then, things are different now—I have the $50 Walmart toaster oven. With an additional ~ $10 investment in soldering plates from Aliexpress, I can turn it into a well-insulated, reliable proofer using a thermostat I already have. These soldering plates heat up incredibly fast—reaching 260°C in just 30 seconds! I make sure to position the plates so their wires don’t come into contact with anything inside the oven.They provide a consistent and reliable heat source but also cool down quickly. You can easily remove them using stainless steel tongs or oven mitts.
Plus, I can bake bread in this small oven without preheating it, so proving my bread in it doesn’t interfere with prepping the oven for baking, which is often necessary with a conventional big oven.
The bread shown is a Vollkornbrot made with 80% whole rye and 20% whole wheat, 650g each in a 7" x 3.5" x 3" (17.5cm x 9cm x 8cm) tin.To bake this bread in the Walmart toaster oven, I:
- Place the TRAY (not the rack) in the lowest slot.
- Put the graniteware roaster (15" oval end-to-end) directly on the TRAY.
- Line the roaster with two layers of aluminum foil.
- Put the lid on the roaster.
- Seal the oven glass from the inside with a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
Here are my baking settings:
- Cold oven, no preheat
- Toast feature
- 450°F x 15 mins, check, rotate
- 450°F x 15 mins, check, rotate
- 450°F x 8 minutes, check, top the loaves with a layer of aluminum foil
- 450°F x 7 mins, check
- 450°F x 5 mins
see it with better lighting:
P.S. 20241106
Snagged two 14-inch trays for about $7 each from Temu and AliExpress, respectively, and now I’ve set up a multi-layer proofer!
Total cost ~$85 + tax and its breakdown:
Walmart toaster oven: $50
soldering plates: $10
extra trays: $15
old reptile thermostat: $10~
Comments
Soldering plates! Really interesting, and beautiful loaves.
One thing I was wondering, how did you remove the hot soldering plates?
-Jon
These soldering plates heat up incredibly fast—reaching 260°C in just 30 seconds! They provide a consistent and reliable heat source but also cool down quickly. You can easily remove them using stainless steel tongs or oven mitts.
Yippee
How do you come up with your ideas?!! So your soldering plates take the place of the oven coils and you can set temps digitally. That is nice! Was removing the oven coils difficult? Basically you do not use any of the dials on the WM oven?
Your loaves are beautifully square and toasty brown. I'll bet you are really enjoying them!
I am using the rack on bottom shelf with my broken pizza stone. I can place a covered bread pan or granite toaster on top of the stone and bake (TOAST-375F) without getting burnt bottoms. Here is my setup:
PS Where are your pans from?
How do you come up with your ideas?!!
Honestly, when you’re fired up about getting ripped off, ideas just kind of spill out!
So your soldering plates take the place of the oven coils and you can set temps digitally.
Only when I’m using it to prove dough.
That is nice! Was removing the oven coils difficult?
Nope, I just leave the coils as they are.
Basically you do not use any of the dials on the WM oven?
I still use them when I bake.
Where are your pans from?
Got them from Hong Kong, but you can probably snag them on Temu or AliExpress.
Yippee