I made waffles this morning since baby had us up anyhow. I meant to make the batter last night but I forgot so we had to do some raising in the cooler again. I LOVE using the cooler to raise dough and batters now. Still working on perfecting the technique but so far
1- boil water on the stove or run some through the coffee pot (ya right, who ever has an available coffee pot!!)
2- elevate your bowl or container inside a cooler, use a glass bowl inverted or some glass cups. Use something you know won't melt or shift easy, but also not metal so we don't wind up cooking instead of raising.
3- remove your container, pour water into cooler, replace container of dough/batter. Learn from my mistakes, I have poured boiling water atop my creation before and ruined a perfectly good batch... I hate food that goes to waste!! replace lid on cooler with slight vent shaft if it is a sealing cooler.
4- repeat steps 1-3 every twenty minutes for the length of your raising.
I hope this might help you on days where the weather won't cooperate and you don't want to heat the house for two hours with the stove. Hope everybody has enjoyed their weekend!!