Available in select premium ranges and as standalone appliances you can install separately, warming drawers can change the way you prepare meals forever. We know hosting for the holidays is harder than it looks. From cleaning to setting the table to preparing dinner to getting ready on time, things are bound to fall through the cracks — but the state of your holiday turkey doesn’t have to be one of them.
If you’re wary of cold entrées and sides, put your trust in a warming drawer. Here are 5 underrated benefits of a warming drawer.
1. Helping Dough Rise
If you’re an avid baker, then you know the importance of proofing dough when baking any good that contains yeast, including bread, croissants, and pizza. Any baked good that contains yeast should be proofed to produce the air bubbles that bring that light and fluffy we all love. Well, good news: Many premium warming drawers come with a Proof setting between 75 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
To take advantage of this feature, first, cover the dough with a dry cloth. Next, place your bowl of dough in the drawer, letting it rest for 40 minutes. A way to ensure the dough is ready is noticing whether it has doubled in size and if a slight indent stays on the surface of the dough when it is poked gently with a finger.
2. Preventing Ingredients from Getting Cold
It’s hard to coordinate the timing when you’re preparing sides to go with an entrée. To keep your green beans and mashed potatoes warm while you’re finishing the creamy garlic sauce, keep your finished dishes in the warming drawer. In addition, if you’re making a pizza from scratch, you can store your oven-baked pie in the warming drawer while you’re searing the veggie toppings on the stove. For reference, 140 to 250 degrees is the temperature range for warming.
3. Keeping Plates Warm for Meal Prep
There’s nothing worse than successfully coordinating the timing of your meal prep only for the food to turn cold minutes after it was served. To help your dinner retain heat, you can stack a few plates in the warming drawer on a low setting. Generally speaking, the lower temperature range is suitable for plated foods while the higher temperatures are ideal for keeping sauces and soups piping hot.
4. Providing Proper Conditions with “Moist” and “Dry” Settings
Select warming drawers can help prevent food from drying out by keeping the appliance at a consistent temperature with sensor controls. This comes in handy when you want to reheat leftovers—as much as we appreciate the convenience of microwaves, they sometimes can leave pizza crusts soggy and leftover roasts dry. To provide optimal conditions for your food, “Moist” and “Dry” settings are available on premium warming drawers. As you can imagine, the flexibility of these warming drawers can help keep foods in multi-course dinners juicy or crispy — as desired.
5. Eating Meals the Way They’re Meant to Be Enjoyed
When you have many excitable guests over for the holidays, it can be difficult to wrangle everybody to gather in one place at the same time. Thankfully, you can spare yourself of feeling like a nag with a warming drawer — even straggling guests can still enjoy your culinary masterpieces without them turning cold.
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