I’d like to hear what experiences the community has had with the proofing function. Starting it with nothing in the oven, the temperature rises alarmingly to above 90F. The same happens when dough is placed in the oven covered in plastic wrap, though the dough temperature measured with the probe rises only into the low 80ies F. If however, a container of water is added to the arrangement in the oven, then both oven and plastic covered dough temperature rise more gently and stabilize around 77F. I’m guessing this may mean the proofing function which is advertised as “low temperature with humidity control” uses the wet bulb sensor, which means that it is best to leave dough uncovered when using the function. Is this your practice?
It is not in sv mode so it is not using the wet bulb temperature. Adding a water container adds a heat sink and also stabilises the temp.
You are very likely right that the thermal mass of whatever is put in the chamber buffers the temperature rise, but I’m still not sure whether whatever is being proofed should be covered or not. Probably the latter since the proofing function is described as “low temperature with humidity control”, but in that case I don’t understand how the humidity is being controlled.
Turn off the fan (and the steam, which requires the fan). Running the fan cause heat from friction, which will raise the oven temp over time. I posted results proving this on Reddit 3 years ago.
There is little point in running steam when proofing, just cover your bowl of dough with saran wrap or a damp towel.
Thanks for the good tip about the fan, and yes, I have been covering the vessel with plastic wrap and leaving steam off which is the default setting of the proofing program.