Sometimes I just don’t have time to wait to things to be room temperature. This usually happens when I decide to make something on the spur of a moment. I read through the recipe and something needs to be soft or warm. Ugh. So I have found someways to speed things along.

1. Warm up flour – When I take whole grain flours like wheat flour out of the freezer, it’s too cold to use immediately for making bread. So if I put the flour container in the microwave for 30 seconds, give or take, it warms up the flour enough so I can use it right away. As you know, things need to be warm for yeast bread to rise.
2. Warm up butter – I never remember to take it out and let it sit for an hour or so when I need to cream it for a recipe. Even out of the freezer, butter warms up if grated with a microplane with wider holes. The little curls warm up quickly….no long wait required.
3. Quick clean up from kneading bread can happen when I knead it on a silicone pastry mat, rather than directly on my counter. Roll up, dump the leftover flour and bits of dough in the trash, then wipe off. And of course it’s great for rolling out bread dough and pastry, with the guidelines for pie dough and measurements. And it rolls back up for easy storage in a drawer. And clean up the bowl the the dough was mixed in by letting it sit with some water, then carefully pour out just the water, and wipe the sticky bread dough out with a paper towel or rag – no pouring sticky bread dough down the drain.
4. Warm up eggs when they need to be room temperature, but putting in a cup of warm water for 5 minutes. That’s it!
5. Bread needs to rise in a warm place – I have two options for this on. Turn on your oven briefly, just until it is slightly warm. It creates a warm place for rising, even if your kitchen is cold. Option two – use a heating pad. Yep, the thing Grandma put on her neck. Turn it on low, and set your bowl right on top. I couldn’t believe this when my brother passed the tip on, but it works great!

And a bonus tip: I save many recipes and have many cookbooks. Often I make something I really like, but then can never find the recipe again! For my family favorites and the recipes my mother passed on, I keep them all in an old fashioned recipe box. If the recipe makes it into the box, it’s something we really like, and something I will make often. The cards are worn and stained, and anything left in my mom’s writing is dearly treasured.

What do you have that needs to be at room temperature for cooking or baking? Maybe I can help!