Loved hearing all the ideas, I also have a cold kitchen and love making bread. I put it in the oven the pilot light is a bit warmer than my kitchen. Bread does rise in a cool environment it just takes a longer time. Enjoy your yummy bread

I have stone counters that are cool too. I knead and shape my bread on a large cutting board, which is actually made out of compressed rubber, so it's not cold. (Cheap item, got it in a restaurant supply store many years ago.) It's also very easy to clean up. I just take the board over to the sink and the counters stay relatively clean.

Making bread is a 2-day process for me. I don't use packaged yeast anymore...just starter. I keep that in the fridge and take it out the night before to warm up and come to life. The next morning, I add flour and water to the starter and let it sit and bubble half the day. I then put some starter back in the jar and into the fridge for future use. I add more flour and water to the rest and let it sit and bubble over the afternoon. I make my dough and put in the fridge over night. The next morning, I cover the top fo the dough with oil and a cloth, then let it rise in the oven with just the pilot light for warmth and then bake it. The bread rises better when I take my time and it's also much more flavorful and sour tasting. I make bread a couple of times a week this way. Once you get the timing down, it's easy.

~ C

When I make bread, I use my Kitchen Aide mixer with a dough hook to do the kneading. I let it rest covered on the countertop for about 20 minutes. I then shape the bread and put it in the refrigerator for at least hours up to about 48 hours, then I bake it. I have one recipe that I have to make in a more traditional fashion, but I do use the mixer then put it in the oven (now I have a proof setting, but I used to heat the oven to 200 while I was mixing the bread and then turned the oven off before I put the bread in it). I had a friend who complained that she could not make this bread -- she assumed since I put it in the refrigerator she set it in front of an open window and her bread fell flat.... :)