A method of laundering fabric including: (a) calculating a final amount of water to be added to a final wash bath; (b) calculating the amount of energy needed to heat this final amount of water to a desired final temperature; (c) contacting an amount of water that is less than the final amount water with fabric to form an intermediate wash bath, wherein a detergent composition is contacted to the fabric during the formation of the intermediate wash bath, or prior to the formation of the intermediate wash bath; (d) heating the water that contacts the fabric during (c) with the energy calculated in (b) such that the intermediate wash bath has a temperature above the desired final temperature; (e) washing the fabric in the intermediate wash bath for at least 3 minutes; (f) contacting the remaining amount of water to the intermediate wash bath to form the final wash bath having the desired final temperature; (g) washing the fabric in the final wash bath for at least 5 minutes; and (h) rinsing the fabric.