Set the timer to 147 minutes

How to use the online timer

Bread dough that needs an overnight prove often calls for 147 minutes in a cool spot, and a timer takes the guesswork out of when it's ready to shape. Set it once you've covered the bowl, check the dough near the end rather than constantly, and trust the number over how it looks late at night. Good bread rewards the kind of patience a clock keeps better than you do.

Press Start and away it goes, counting down on its own without needing you to babysit it every few seconds. The only real rule is keeping this browser tab open, since the countdown pauses along with the page if you close it or shut the browser down entirely. Right at zero, a sound plays to let you know time's up, clear enough to hear from the next room over.

A kitchen timer only works in the kitchen, and a phone timer competes with texts, calls, and every other app fighting for your attention. Keeping the countdown in a browser tab sidesteps both problems: it goes wherever your laptop or phone goes, and it isn't trying to notify you about anything else. Minimise it, work on something else, and it'll be counting when you check back. Set a timer for 147 minutes, set the timer to 147 minutes, start a 147 minutes timer — it is the same countdown either way.