The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

My Rofco experience

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

My Rofco experience

Just got the new Rofco 10 on sale from pleasanthillgrain.com and wanted to share my experience and get some input.

The thing was very well packed and shipped without damage.  Got the new plug installed and ran it through a couple heating cycles, then tried some pizzas, and a couple tartine loaves (hydration for the total formula around 82%).  The first run was a pretty good one, I steamed using a Solo hand sprayer (nice--and can't justify taking up space with their steaming pans, at least not yet).

A couple observations:  First, the instructions tell you to let it warm for a couple hours, then put your loaves in and then turn the temp all the way down, using the stored heat in the stones after about 10 minutes, opening the vent in the door at the end.  This seemed to work pretty well, but I need to dial in that process and could use input from others on what they are doing (for the loaves below, I did 10 minutes at initial heat setting, 10 minutes turned down and another 10 minutes with the vent open).

I periodically tried to check the temp retention after turning the thermostat down and when I finished the bake, it would cycle on at a reading of about 360F...but when I used my IR thermometer on the stone, it was reading 430-450F.  I also ended up with burnt bottoms on my otherwise nicely baked loaves (starting with the thermostat set around 520F), so the thermostat seems to have some accuracy issues.  Dialing in the temps and baking process is what I need to work on.  I will start at a lower temp next time, and will do some checking of temps during the entire cycle to get a better idea of how this thing works.

Overall I'm pretty psyched.

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

here is the machine:

 

golgi70's picture
golgi70

How many loaves fit in yours at once?

josh

ps looks nice. I get your psyched

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

These two batards take up most of a stone each--thus two of these total, but I'm planning on being able to do 4 boules at a time, and will do 4 short baguettes at a time--but it is pretty tight (just under 12"x19" for each stone).  I would have loved to have gotten the B40, but then I'd need to get a bigger mixer, bake bigger batches to justify firing the thing up, and of course, spend a bunch more money on the oven.  This one fits my current baking pretty well, but it would be nice to have a few inches in each dimension.

To help make the most of the space, I did make my own peels out of some spare plywood I had - to fit the size of the stones.  Work well so far.

Again...love some advice on how best to get deeply colored loaves without burning the bottoms, venting, etc.

golgi70's picture
golgi70

For the bit of feedback.

I can assume the 40 would fit 10-12 loaves then which would be ideal fo rmyself.  I'd go from 4 waves of baking plus preheating time between to just 1 bake or maybe 2 with a much shorter reheat time between.  It's a bit of an investment but I'm gonna have to really consider this.  I also looked at the Haussler Ovens but haven't gotten seen any feedback on them yet.  

As for advice.  Well quite obviously I don't own the oven and it would take a bit of tweaking but I don't think I'd listen to the advice to shut the oven down and use retained heat.  There is no way that oven has enough retained heat for the type of bake we seek.  Might be a great way for baking Pumpernickel though.  I myself would utilize the steam tray or come up with a smaller version that took up less space but still I'd want steam in the oven. I'd load the loaves turn the oven down to 460 or so depending on the type of loaf and bake.  I'd check the bottoms when you are releasing the steam.  If it looks like they are gonna burn put them on a pan for the rest of bake to help protect.  Then the next bake I might decrease the preheat temp to 480 and try again.  Then just some tinkering should get you where you want to be.  If the oven is falling to 350 through the bake though the stone isn't and you were waiting for crust color which wasn't gonna happen quickly without higher temps and the bottom in turn got too dark because the stone stayed much hotter than the rest of the oven naturally.  

I look forward to more results/reviews as I am very interested.  

Hope my advice is helpful

Josh

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

Thanks for the helpful thoughts - I do need to get baking sheets, in part to serve as a scorch preventer as you suggest. Foil might have to do in the meantime...

I think a full oven with a decent spray at the beginning might be sufficient steam. It isn't vented at all.  I ran across some discussions about alternatives, including spraying through the vent in the door, and piping in steam from tubing cut into the side.  The comments I've seen were generally positive on their steam trays, and they were back-ordered at pleasanthillgrain.com, so they are getting some use.

I will also have to take the temp of more spots in the oven with the IR gun throughout to get things dialed in - I'll report back on what I find, but in general I think we are on the same page - start with the oven and stones not quite so hot, but keep the oven set on desired back temp longer (or all the way through the bake).

I did take temps on the outside of the oven, and the top gets only slightly warm to the touch.  The left/right sides were around 120F

Apparently the B40 is rather popular, but those Haussler's look might nice too. Nice to have some options on this front...

30 Chickens's picture
30 Chickens

Would love to hear what you figure out as you use it more.

SCChris's picture
SCChris

It's an oven that I have interest in, it looks like it would fit into a small, dedicated baking studio.

Thank you

Sincerely

 

Chris

 

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

Here are my notes from today's bake (a Tartine WW with ~ 95% hydration total, retarded final proof overnight):

-       set at 250C/482F, after about 1.75hrs pre-heat light went off; after over 2hrs stones were at 564F !!!

-       left door open and turned down to 200C/392F and let it settle for some time, when the thermostat finally cycled the heat on and then back off, checked stone temp: 500F (perfect)

-       sprayed before and after loading and turned thermostat down to 180C and it didn’t cycle back on until about 16 minutes into bake

-       2 loaves of tartine ww had been retarded in fridge overnight and went in after about 5 minutes on the counter – they continued to spring for over 15 minutes. I think they were a tad underproofed (only had 30 minutes after shaping before they went into fridge)

-       Opened vent at 17 minutes and a decent amount of steam was visible coming out and continued for over 10 minutes

-       Opened door to let out the rest of steam and check temp at 30 minutes and stone read around 450F (again, set at 180C/356F)

-       Took loaves out at 40 minutes and readings were a bit wacky – around 375F on top stone and 430F on bottom stone

-       Loaf on top stone looked great, no burned bottom

-       Loaf on bottom stone a bit darker with a tiny bit of scorching on bottom

Great texture and flavor on these loaves - crumb is from the butt end of the loaf on the bottom deck that got a bit less spring (pictured below on the right)...

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

Nice looking loaves,  thanks for the update.  Surprised the stones got so far above the temp setting on the oven.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

I may know why the stone gets hotter than the ambient temp. Each stone has a heating coil directly under them. Wouldn’t that explain an ambient oven temp that is constantly lower than the stone temp.

Dan

After using the oven for years, what do you like and not like about the Rofco?

Which of the 2 decks bake the best for you?

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

I'm assuming that is just the thermostat being off (quite a bit), and just needing to compensate.  But I'm certainly glad that the actual temp is well above what the thermostat setting is at, rather than the other way around - with an oven that won't get up to temp.  This things as heat in spades, I just need to know exactly how to compensate.

But then again, yes, unfortunate that it isn't accurate (according to my IR gun, which seems to be confirmed by my small baking data set).

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

I've been keeping up the baking, mostly doing Tartine WW at 92-95% hydration, along with some pizzas.

Thanks to the IR gun and practice, the temp control is getting worked out (200C setting ends up with stones at about 460F after 2hrs pre-heat).

I'm now mostly working on steaming and venting for the best spring, bloom, and crust.

I've been using a small Solo plant sprayer just before and after loading, and while the results are pretty good, I'm really not sure whether it could benefit from more (or less). Signs of too much steam?

After watching steam come out of the vent for over ten minutes when I opened it on one bake, I now just open the door briefly (a decent wave of steam comes out) and then close the door and open the vent for the last 10-15 minutes.  Because the crusts weren't always as crisp as I would like, I have also left to door open a crack for 5 minutes with the oven off at the end.

Any insights from others would certainly be appreciated...

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

Unfortunately, I can't use my IR gun on your oven, and my oven heats evenly.

How about taking pictures of the bottoms of your loaves and send them to the company.  Or get or borrow an IR gun.

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

Leandro, hopefully they can get it straightened out.  I don't have a Rofco, but have read about them.  Is there a bottom element in addition to the upper element.  I think there is only one temperature control, and if there is a bottom element as well, it is controlled by the same thermostat.  My guess is that you are having some problem with uneven heating from the upper element.  I would guess that the bottom stone is so thick, that even if you had an uneven heat source below it, the stone would even it out.  

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

I am very interested in the Rofco b40. However, I am worried the plug/power adaptor. Where did you buy yours? did you change the plug? where do you plug it in? Sorry for all the questions, but I am in Canada and I do know anyone who has one.

30 Chickens's picture
30 Chickens

I have a Rofco B40 in the US. The plug is the same kind of plug that would be on a US electric dryer or range. Electricians are very familiar with installing them. You just need to make sure you get enough amps designated to that plug. The company I got the oven from sent a picture of the plug that I then gave to my electrician. Who are you going to get it from?

mariemart13's picture
mariemart13

HI MJ,

It's an old message but I was wondering if you finally got to buy a Rofco 40? I'm in Montreal and considering buying one...

Let me know if you can :-)

Thanks!

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

I am thinking of buying one from the Pleasant Hill Grain (http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com). Where did you by yours from? If you don't mind me asking house much did it set you back in total with shipping and plug change? I think i need to ensure right AMPS like you said. How many AMPS is your outlet? Or is your entire house on higher AMPS? as you can tell I am not to versed which is making the decision much slower

 

 

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

MJ Sourdough, electricity is measured in Volts and Amps   most of the outlets in your house are 120 volts.  If you look in your panel box where the circuit breakers are you will see a bunch of levers that are labeled for the number of Amps  ( usually 15 amps or 20 Amps) and you will see a some that are paired together with a metal strip -  the paired ones are 240 volts circuit breakers  ( usually for an electric dryer, AC, and electric stove).   You will need a 240 volt line to use your Rofco B40 that is rated at least 15 Amps.  There is nothing wrong with using an outlet with higher Amps, your dryer outlet, if you have an electric dryer, will have enough amps.  If you don't have a spare 240 outlet, and it is extremely unlikely that you have a spare 240 outlet, you will need an electrician to run a new line for you, and he will match the outlet to the plug on the oven..  

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

Both the thread and I believe the instructions advise giving it a couple hours to preheat (it will likely take close to an hour to for the the oven air temp up, then perhaps another to get the stones fully heated).

Heat stability (given time) is one of the virtues of this oven, in my experience, especially when compared to a conventional oven.

But the controls on mine are way off on their readings, but consistently so, so I've used a IR temp gun to map out those temps and chart them, so I know what to set it at, and how long it takes to get up to temp.

Keep at it and give it more time and you might have more luck.

30 Chickens's picture
30 Chickens

Hi everyone,

I am writing to find out how long it took the smell from your new oven to burn off? After following the directions did your oven still have a smell, or was it odorless?

 

Thanks,

Pearl

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

it did have a smell that was stronger for the first few times...when it gets fully heated up I still notice it very faintly

 

Not much different than the baking stones I've had

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

Tye, sorry,  I don't see your graph, but another option is to set your oven 50 degrees lower for the 40 minute preheat, then turn it up in the 5 minutes before the loaf goes in so the air temp will increase, but the stone temp will not increase as quickly, and bake at that point before the stone keeps going up.  Also,  I don't have that oven, but would check the gaskets, and make sure the steam vent is closed.  It sounds like the oven thinks it is cooling off, so turns on the element ( which is hotter than 500 ) for a few minutes to heat up the oven, but since the element is close to the stone, it keeps heating the stone.  The other potential issue is that the sensor is too far away from the stone and the source of heat.  My recollection from reading the instructions is that they do suggest a very long preheat, and it may be designed to work like a brick oven - it would be fired up for a while, and then cooked the bread with the stored heat, in which case it may be operating as designed. 

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

Tve,  I suggest you contact the manufacturer and ask for their assistance.  It is possible that the thermostat is not working properly, ( taking too long to cycle off once it hits target temp ) or you are missing some insulation, or have an air leak which is allowing the oven cavity to cool off too much, or something else.  If you are regularly getting undercooked or burnt products, there is something wrong.  If the manufacturer can't help, or it is out of warranty, the only suggestion I have is to see if you can relocate the sensor for the thermostat.  I have done it on a few ovens that were well out of warranty, and it can be pretty easy, or extremely difficult, depending on the oven.  If it is the classic capillary thermostat with sensor    you have to be very careful not to break the wire , but there is often slack in the wire that will let you change the location slightly.  

baliw2's picture
baliw2

is very expensive! You could put a stone in a small cadco for a few hundred bucks. Or maybe even a steel plate.

Your breads look nice but I'm not sure they taste any better than a much cheaper oven. This thing looks like an expensive toy. Plus you have the hassles you are dealing with. Don't want to rain on your parade but if it was me I would return this lemon and get something reliable. Unless, you like the project aspect more than baking bread. My 2 cents

marseille's picture
marseille

Dear Bikeprof,

Great thread for those of us considering a Rofco, thought I would check in to see how you and your oven were getting on. I'm on the fence right now: I need to maximize production for home bakery and only the large Rofco and a full size Cadco convection seem to be the practical options. I know you were having problems with heating but I'm curious about your take on steaming. I am skeptical about effective steaming in a 3 deck Rofco: even if you use the steam trays, which eat up a couple inches of width, you'd have to load three trays of bread, then fill each steam tray before closing door. They also seem like they would sputter a lot, possibly into bread which by necessity is right next to them. If you just use a sprayer, can you really get enough steam in, again having to do each deck before closing door? Perhaps the closed vents help but I am still having a hard time imagining how all this would work doing, say, 12 loaves at a time. Any thoughts? Thumbs up for Rofco? 

 

 

 

 

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

I am just using the smaller 2 deck, but recently did get their steaming trays.  Yes, they can sputter unless your are fairly careful with your pouring, but they do crank out the steam.  They also  take up some space, which is more of a factor in the smaller models.

I would imagine it would take some time to dial in a process for loading and effectively steaming 12 loaves, but it should work.  I sometimes still use a sprayer - even shooting water through an open vent against the inside wall of the oven.

Despite the fact that the temp settings need to be 'tuned' I think Rofco has a pretty good product for what it is - a relatively inexpensive deck oven with a decent thermal mass for each deck. But it is a far cry from a commercial deck oven, so you should temper your expectations accordingly (or spend the extra money).

That's about as far as I can go...I think others out there are using the larger ovens to support a cottage bakery operation, perhaps they will chime in

marseille's picture
marseille

Anyone else out there using a big Rofco oven for production? 12+ hearth loaves/ bake? 

breadandthebees's picture
breadandthebees

hey there, I just got my rofco b40 and also looking for tips and advice. i make batards are 750g unbaked and they proof in these oblong bannetons. I've been baking in cast iron pots. anyway, just turned the oven on for the first time today. Bummed that I won't be doing 12 loaves at once; unless I change the way I shape and proof. i just noticed your post is almost a year ago! so, I guess if you see this, please update me. Really wondering how to steam the decks w/o hitting the light and how the crust turns out. Is it similar to cast-iron pot baking? Thanks!

drogon's picture
drogon

Old thread resurrected, but I've now had my B40 for almost 6 months now and it's doing well.

It will take 12 rounds (actually slight ovals which is how I usually shape them) or bloomers. These are about 915g of dough each. It'll also do 18 small loaves, scaled at about 500g each.

Here's a photo with 12 bigguns...

More:

It does rolls good too:

I also do tinned loaves in it too.. This was part of yesterdays bake:

And I use it for baguettes, cakes, pastys, empanadas, etc. it's very versatile.

As for steaming - I never bothered with the steam pods - I use a big pump-up water sprayer thing, but I did manage to break the bulb glass once, so I'm very careful with it now...

When loading it, what I do is lay out 3 of the silicone sheets that came with the trays (I got a 2nd set of trays too which are handy at times), then turn out the dough (from bannetons, baskets) into the sheets, then use a piece of plywood 470mm wide to slide under the silicone and load that into the oven - that way I can load all 3 shelves in under a minute to minimise the door opening time. After about 15 minutes, I open the vents & door and do the "magicians tablecloth" trick to get the silicone sheets out, leaving the bread to finish off directly on the stones. I initially tried loading them via a peel (and my big 470mm wide loading board) directly onto the stones but it was taking too long and could get the occasional wet dough stick to the board...

Cheers,

-Gordon

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

My B10 works just fine and I have been dialing it in.  While their steam trays do take up valuable space, they work well (and the trick to make it so that they don't spay the loaves and you a bunch when you pour in the water is to add a little bit of water at the front just to take a bit of the excess heat away from the point at which you add water a few minutes before the loaves go in - that way the steaming is a bit more dispersed and even and less violent).  I haven't been good about measuring just how much to add for x-minutes of steam, so I can't pin that down for you and you have a different size oven anyway.  My crusts come out quite nice, although I do notice that they can get a little extra dark on top before the rest because of the heat from the top element, and I start things off with the stones around 500F and then turn it down to around 460F.

Here is a recent sample:

30 Chickens's picture
30 Chickens

Hi all. Fun to see #teamrofco here. I broke the light too, I just replaced it and am now REALLY careful. I use a garden sprayer that I took apart to clean out the non food grade silicone and replaced it with coconut oil. Seems to work fine if the oven is full. When I spray I close the door as much as I can so I don't loose heat. I also load in under a minute by using 3 boards, one for each shelf. As far as baking. I bake mostly whole wheat loaves, so I start hot. Around 250/260. As soon as I load the ovens I turn it down to 200. After 15m I open the steam and then when the loaves have color I open the door and take them out. Sometimes I don't get enough color on the bottom shelf so I move them to the top for a few after I take the others out, but it doesn't work great. So if anyone has tips on that? Here are a few photos for my bread from the oven. I would have liked a bit more color. It is hard to balance top color and bottom burn... This is 100% whole white wheat that I mill just before mixing. 

 

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

That is a pretty gorgeous loaf, esp. for 100% whole grain.  I'm just starting to get into milling my own with a fairly recenlty purchased Retsel.

Care to share the formula/process?

breadandthebees's picture
breadandthebees

...thanks everyone, for keeping this thread alive. You guys made such beautiful loaves! I tried my second attempt today and um, well, I made p*nis bread. I don't know why it's blowing out. Is it the lack of steam? Notice that the scores are sealed and the bread is bursting wherever they want. I am also using a garden sprayer and I spray before I load and after I load but the spray is weak. It's more like spitting than spraying. There is no visible steam coming out when I open the vents after 10 mins. Is this also a sign that I am not steaming enough? The dials are at 210-220C (the stones are not the same temp with first the bottom being the coldest and then the top--weird!). This oven has such a learning curve on it. I've read and re-read all your advice but I guess I just have to figure out my own process.

Anyway, not sure if shaping is the problem because I've been shaping this way for a year and the loaves are fine (I've been baking in cast iron pots).

..

drogon's picture
drogon

I occasionally see that - I've put it down to a couple of things - one is a shaping error - trapping a bubble or air without noticing and the other is sometimes being too close to another loaf - there's some sort of magnetic attraction going on - but I think it's a localised hot spot just happening between the loaves.

Cut it open across the bulge and see if you can trace the way you shaped it through the larger bubbles...

As for steam - yes, after about 12-15 minutes when I open the vents - lots of steam comes out - I usually open the door at that point too, depending on what I have in it - as I load the dough on the silicone sheets and slide those in via a big plywood loading board the same width as the oven. I remove that to let the breads sit on the stones at that point (I don't know if it makes any difference, but it makes me feel better!)

My Rofco gets about 2-hours heating up time. It was on at about 5:40 this morning and the first loaves went in at about 7:50.

Fine looking loaves though.

-Gordon

bikeprof's picture
bikeprof

I'm not sure but I wonder if the blowouts suggest a hotspot (although that loaf looks as if it didn't get slashed very deeply at all, that doesn't really explain that kind of blowout).  Some careful use of an IR gun could help answer that...

A couple other notes:

My decks are slightly different temp's and if one is hotter than the other prior to loading I spray the stones a little bit with water to cool that hotter one down a bit.

As for the light, I cracked the globe around mine early on, got a replacement, but never installed it...as the bulb still works fine even with the shattered globe, which doesn't seem to get any worse with ongoing use.

breadandthebees's picture
breadandthebees

Hello Team Rofco, thank you for your tips and advice! I did another test run and it wasn't very successful, I'm afraid. I am still not seeing any steam escaping from the vents when I open them. I've also cut the loaves and you can see, the middle loaf on the middle rack has bigger air pockets. I probably didn't shape that properly. The loaves on the top most rack are the ones baked in a dutch oven. I didn't get a blow-out this time but the scores sealed up again. I did slash deeply...almost 1/2" deep. I also used the infrared thermometer and scanned across the stones. There was prob a 1 to 2 degree difference across each stone. The top most stone remains the hottest, as you can tell from the loaves in the photo (Rofco baked loaves are on the lower two racks. Topmost stone = loaves on the left, middle stone = loaves in the middle and bottom stone =  loaves on the right); and the bottom stone the coolest. Note that the most bottom right loaf looks the best. It was the second bake. 

Can someone tell me if the Rofco breads (when one gets it right) is comparable to breads baked in a dutch oven?

drogon's picture
drogon

I've never really used a dutch oven, so can't really compare here... Those breads don't look that different from mine though.

The larger ones in this photo were all baked in my Rofco last week:

if that helps make a comparison...

Will take some photos tomorrow if I remember.

-Gordon

breadandthebees's picture
breadandthebees

I'll just keep trying! What is your steaming method? I am using a garden sprayer but the spray is a bit weak. I spray for a while but keep thinking if leaving the door open for such a long time is a bad idea. I even tried spraying the loaves...but could see that after a minute or two of shutting the door, the top loaf has already formed a skin. 

drogon's picture
drogon

I forgot to take any photos this morning (other than one I posted to twitter of my dough bursting out of the container it was in overnight, but hey... https://twitter.com/Moorbakes/status/693311356146171904 )

I have a sprayer that is hand-pumped. It holds a litre of water. It's one of these:

http://www.enjo.com/html/uk/products/enjo-products/cleaners/pumpbottle-1000ml

The nozzle can be turned to fine mist or stream. I leve it set to stream. (aka water pistol mode!)

So what I do... 2 hours heat up time with the vents closed. I prepare my dough by putting out 3 sheets of the Rofco silicon tray liners on my benches with the doughs on-top. (In baskets, bannetons or ready to take off the couche) I tip the dough onto the sheets out of the baskets or transfer from the couche, score the dough then load the 3 sheets into the oven at once - ie. open the door, sheets + dough into oven once after the other. I have a piece of plywood cut to 470mm wide that I slide under the silicone sheets and use that to transfer the dough and sheets into the oven. The dough stays on the sheets on-top of the stones (for now).

Spraying. Bottle in my left hand (handy for me as I'm left-handed), door handle in my right. I spray a jet onto the side-walls on each of the 3 compartments. A good 3-4 seconds on each wall. I try to aim down to the gap between the stone and the side. I do the bottom one last and am closing the door as I'm doing that one. Close the door - remember to not slam it like the instructions say... Make sure the vents are still closed.

And that's it for the next 15 minutes (Although I'm usually loading up the other oven at this point then set the timer for 12 minutes)

At that point, (12-15 minutes later) I open the vents - usually see steam coming out, but not always - I also open the door and do the "magicians trick" to remove the silicone sheets, leaving the breads now directly on the stones. I do not know if this is good or bad, but to me it's just one of those things that feels right (and I can then honestly say they were stone baked!) then leave it for another 25 minutes - although, again, I'm usually tending the other oven at the same time (I open the door, and turn the loaves as it's a fan oven and they cook more evenly if I turn them) then set the timer for 22 minutes. A few minutes after I've opened the door, removed the sheets, etc. there is usually a lot of steam coming out of the vents. (even though a lot of it came out when I opened the door) Maybe this is the bread itself now in direct contact with the stones? I don't know for sure.

The other oven is set at 250 which I turn down to 210 when I turn the loaves round at the 12-15 minute mark.

At that point, I'll unload the other oven first then the Rofco. My loading board is 520mm one way by 470mm the other way, so it fits both ovens (The Lincat is a GN 1/1 oven - 530mm wide)

That's basically it.

It did take me a week or so to get the hang on the Rofco - and what didn't help at the time was that I'd switched flour mills the same week. It wasn't plain sailing, but with hindsight I'd have stuck to the original flour to get used to it then switched to the new flour (which I've now abandoned and gone back to my original mill anyway) it may have been easier.

My initial issues were probably because I had the Rofco too hot - well too hot on the dials. I started with them at 250°C but I was getting "bursts", burnt bottoms (on the bottom stone) and blackened tops on the top one, so after a bit io fiddling, settled for 220 for the top and 210 for the bottom half.

There is a difference in the baking on the different shelves and I notice it when I unload the breads - if I have the same breads on all shelves, but it's minimal now and not something I'm overly concerned about. I tend to put the plain whites on the top shelf, my Buckfastleigh Sourdough (20% wholemeal) on the middle then others on the bottom, depending on the bake.

Hope that's of use.

-Gordon

 

drogon's picture
drogon

Just a little follow-up here, a bout of curiosity overtook me this morning and I weighed the spray bottle before & after...

I put 208g of water into the oven before closing the door.

Breads came out fine.

The ones nearer the back/far end of this photo were done in another oven, all the others in the Rofco.

-Gordon

breadandthebees's picture
breadandthebees

Thanks for the update. I love how you measured the amount of water :-) I did another bake and ended up snapping the trigger on the sprayer and bruised my fingers. Clearly I was spraying with such "intensity", shall we say. Anyway, there are what the loaves look like. Again, the ones that were baked on the lowest stone fared the best. Still experiencing some of these blow-outs though :-(

Oh, the one loaf on the top left is missing because my husband and kids ate it.

Bought another sprayer and it just arrived yesterday. Plan on testing another batch tomorrow. Fingers crossed...

--Cynthia

 

MJ Sourdough's picture
MJ Sourdough

i have not purchased it yet. My wife said “NO”. It’s a lot of money so it’s going to take time to get her on board. But based on what I have seen, read, and heard is a good over if you not going to buy a large commercial deck oven! Please let me know if you are going to buy one! Would be great to hear about your experience 

marygracebread's picture
marygracebread

This thread has been really interesting and helpful to read!

I recently got a Rofco B10 and I am overall quite pleased with the way my loaves have been coming out - except for a few things: 

- the tops of my loaves keep getting burnt

- the crust isn't as thick as I would like it to be

- one little section at the front of my loaves (at the front and back of the oven) doesn't get crusty 

My concern is that if I move the loaves around so that the crusts are cooked more evenly, I lose so much heat in the process because I have to take them out completely and then put them back in. 

My process at the moment:

Preheat 2 hrs at 220

Turn down to 150, load oven, spray with a garden sprayer

Bake for 20 minutes

Open vent and turn back up to 220 for 10 minutes

Turn down to 150 and bake for 15 minutes.

 

When would you move the loaves around? And how can I get thicker crusts (I did this in my dutch oven by baking for longer with the lid on.. but I feel like in the Rofco the loaves are just going to burn).

Any ideas / other methods of baking, especailly those specific to the B10?

:)