The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

steam rig

Stubbs's picture
Stubbs

steam rig

This is my attempt at creating steam in my oven.  I works better than I had planned.

 

 

WoodenSpoon's picture
WoodenSpoon

Also, you are about a couple cuts and a coil away from some moonshine.

BobBoule's picture
BobBoule

I'm impressed. How do you turn the steam off?

Stubbs's picture
Stubbs

To turn the steam on and off I simply use the lid on the tea kettle. Lid off= steam off, Lid on = steam on

However, I may have spoken too soon about it working well.

It worked fantastic in my test drive when the oven was off, but when the oven was on, I could see no steam.  Maybe a problem with the temperature in the oven, 425F being so it it kept the steam from developing?

 

gerhard's picture
gerhard

When you see steam it is actually the vapour condensing back to water droplets, so you don't see steam the oven  is hot enough to keep the steam from condensing.

Gerhard

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

at oven temps but be careful, it's there and it can burn easy enough!  Turn your face away and stand back when opening the oven door.

Does the rigid copper tubing extend to near bottom of the oven?

nmygarden's picture
nmygarden

So, the tubing is inserted through a vent?

I'm betting your steam is working quite well. True steam is gaseous and not so visible. What we can see is water vapor, steam that has cooled and condensed into foggy droplets. That's likely what you witnessed while testing your rig.

Please use caution opening your oven, steam burns are not fun.

Cathy

doughooker's picture
doughooker

In addition to the safety issues, too much steam in the oven cavity and it won't come up to temperature and the crust won't brown. I've made more than one undercooked loaf for this reason. It's why you want to turn the steam off part-way through the bake.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I had a steaming oven once, and the trick was to turn on the steam after loading the oven, then stop it after 5 or 8 minutes and vent the oven (open the door and then close it quickly) after the spring.  Look out and stay away from that invisible cloud of steam.  (I very much liked my hip high oven because I wasn't bending over it.) 

doughooker's picture
doughooker

I have an electric range kind of like this, with a vent tube underneath the cooktop surface near one of the rear burners. The tube seems to lead to to the "roof" of the oven cavity, just above the broil element. It does not open into the oven cavity itself. How does the steam get into the oven cavity?

There is steam there, even if you can't see it as water vapor/mist.

Stubbs's picture
Stubbs

Thanks to all for the safety warnings.

Yes, I should have remembered that steam is actually invisible, and what we actually see is the condensed water vapor.  I knew that in a former era of my life. I wear heat proof gloves when working around the kettle lid because of the steam present.  Also I am careful when opening the oven door to avoid direct exposure from the escaping steam in the oven.

The vent in my oven had a ceramic grill with hexagonal shaped holes that I had to remove to allow the copper tubing to pass into the oven cavity.

The copper pipe descends down the oven vent extending 2.5 cm (1 inch for the metrically challenged) beneath the oven interior ceiling.

I wonder if placement of the steam outlet is important.  If so, should it be on the top or bottom of the oven? Should it be directed toward or away from the bread?  I left the tubing long enough for slight adjustments if needed.

To cook a loaf:

First preheat oven.

Remove lid of boiling kettle and verify water level is appropriate.

Turn on heat beneath the kettle and allow it to come to a full boil.

Once your loaf is ready, oven is preheated and kettle is boiling, place the lid on the kettle, then place the loaf in the oven.

A few drops of water will drip from the steam outlet until the copper tubing has warmed up enough to prevent condensation inside the tubing.  Make sure the tubing won’t drip on your loaf

Set timer for how long you want the steam to run.  When the timer expires remove the lid of the kettle to stop the steam flow. And open the oven door briefly to release the steam in the oven.

You can now turn off the heat beneath the kettle and reset the timer for remainder of the cooking time.

 

Grobread's picture
Grobread

I tried a similar setup, but with a pressure cooker with a plastic tube inserted through the broiler, beneath the flame. I haven't been able to make it work properly, I don't know why. This morning I baked a couple baguettes, but I think they may have been overproofed since they were too flat and dind't rise much; but, more to the point, evethough the crumb is rather nice, the crust is pale and too thick.

I first tested the method with the oven off and I think it should work well since in about 5 minutes the chamber was pretty much saturated with steam.

I let the cooker on for 5 minutes before loading the loaves, then 5 minutes more after. Then I just turned it off and waited about 7 more minutes before venting the oven. 

Do you think it was too much steam? Too little? Or was it only the overproofing?