I'm following a recipe for making dough for a challah bread, and the recipe calls for warm water. How warm should the water be (in degrees)? Do I need to heat it, or is room-temperature good enough?
And, whatever the correct answer is, does it apply to all recipes that call for warm water?
Best Answer
As a rule of thumb- you can comfortably hold your finger in warm water.
100°F (38°C). Yeast wake up well at this temperature.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/yeast_temp.html
This time of year my house is 80°F (27°C). but I heat my water a little past that (~120°F or 50°C) to compensate for cooler ingredients- you really want the dough to be around 80F.
This will apply to all yeast recipes that call for warm water.