The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Will Steaming Damage my New Oven

mizrachi's picture
mizrachi

Will Steaming Damage my New Oven

With my ancient but reliable electric oven, I steamed with great success using a tray of ice cubes and a spritzer.  But now that I moved and own a new and expensive gas oven, I'm afraid steaming might damage the electronics.  How can I reliably steam without destroying my oven?

 

 

richkaimd's picture
richkaimd

Before you do something that might invalidate your warranty, call the maker to ask you question.  I all that they say is that you should not do it because it'll invalidate your warranty, you'll be ahead.

Chuck's picture
Chuck

Cover the bread with something like an upside down foil roasting pan (cheap at your sumermarket), the top of a roasting pan (bought off eBay?), etc. Also try searching "magic bowl" here.

For me it works just as well. (I usually "mist" the inside of my cover pan before putting it over the bread  ...not sure if that's really necessary though.) Probably the biggest problem will be dealing with awkward loaf dimensions; for example have you ever seen a roasting pan as long as a baguette?


Steam condensation damage to an oven's electronic controls is a real crap shoot. It very seldom happens (in fact if you want it to happen so you have an excuse to get a new oven, it will probably never happen:-). But if you're one of the few unluckly ones, you can suddenly be faced with an inconveniently dead oven followed by a very large repair bill. To me it seems easy enough to avoid the small risk simply by switching methods from steaming the whole oven to steaming just the bread.

wassisname's picture
wassisname

Removed - because Chuck is faster :)

larryparis10's picture
larryparis10

For what it's worth, I blitzed my electronic control, called the clock in repairman's lingo, and gave up contracting one of two repairman after talking to them--it was a kind of the cost is what the cost is. So I decided to do the job myself, and I'm glad I did. First of all, the "clock" was reasonably inexpensive, about $150 for a classic and beloved GE profile, and while taking the oven apart I was able to clean off an almost unimaginable amount of grease. As for the work itself, it was pretty much writing down what I was taking off, and the clock itself, with the wires still attached, made the substition a no brainer.  Anyway, this was my experience, for what it's worth. (About $300, not including the part, I would guess.)