The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Gas VS: Electric oven quick response pls

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Gas VS: Electric oven quick response pls

I just found out that I have to bake at or friends home later and they have a gas oven. I'm doing a couple Kalamata cheese loaves and they can't be covered. My question is, is there any consideration for a gas oven? I know there is supposed to be more moisture with gas as a by product of combustion. I have Electric at home and have never baked in gas before. Anyone have experience with that could offer assurances?

Thanks,
Eric

mcs's picture
mcs

Eric,
I don't know if this is a quick response or not, but I run both gas and electric ovens (convection) and the baking times are identical.  I've also found the same with regular home ovens.  We've had both, and the times were the same.  I'd bring a thermometer if I were you, then you can adjust accordingly.

-Mark

http://thebackhomebakery.com

ehanner's picture
ehanner

I baked the Olive and Pepper Jack savory bread from your collection, in a gas oven. It wasn't as nice looking as from my oven in terms of color but the bread was awesome, I made 2 1.5 lb loaves and everyone loved them along with my world famous Baby Back Ribs.
Eric

nbicomputers's picture
nbicomputers

Personaly i Don't like electric

main reason is that with electric the heat elemant (sp) is ether no full blast or off completly off. i am not sure of the recovery time of an electric.

with gass the flam is never off it goes lower so i think that the recovery time is better.

all my ovens were ether gass or oil fired and the oil ones coule be turned off and would still keep the temp constant.

but then again my ofens were BIG and Lined with fire brick.

there are some realy big electric ovens on the market but i would hate to see the energy bill

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Norm,
I like my gas stove for all those reasons. It's so much easier to adjust the flame and as you say it comes up instantly. I was thinking more about the steaming issue. With gas the vents are open and steam wasn't very effective I thought. For me this was a one time deal, baking at a friends home. I just didn't want to ruin the bread from inexperience.

 Today I'm working on some sour rye for tomorrow.

Eric 

mcs's picture
mcs

Eric,
So do you have a gas or electric oven or both?  In the question it sounds like you have electric, but here it sounds like you have a gas one.  Maybe I'm just sleep deprived.

-Mark

http://thebackhomebakery.com

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Sorry Mark and Pablo, I have a gas cook top and an electric oven. My friend has a gas oven. I may have confused the readers by using the term "stove" when I should have said cook top. Whew are we done with this yet?

Eric

mcs's picture
mcs

Now I get it.
Gas stove top + Electric oven = You

I think we're done.  Unless I missed something.

-Mark

Oh, and just to confirm dougal's rather elegant explanation of temperature control below, my Blodgett electric (the one I'm using in the Kalamata video) is electronic controlled, so it remains a very consistent temperature and uses less electricity than my home oven/range.  My gas stoves (to the left of the electric ones) don't have a running pilot so they turn on and off like electric ovens normally do, but they also maintain a very consistent temp.  

http://thebackhomebakery.com

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Yes I think Dougak should take the front row for thermostat questions.

Eric 

Wisecarver's picture
Wisecarver (not verified)

...Typically gas ovens are drier inside.

Radicalkat's picture
Radicalkat

I bake bread in a gas oven and had basically no luck in creating a steamy environment in the oven.  As soon as the steam is created it vents out with all the waste combustion gasses.  This has resulted in consistent chalky crusts on my hearth breads (like baguettes).  I posted about it with photos here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/6196/help-chalky-crusted-baguette

Solutions that I have found include:

1. wetting the dough with a spritzer just before it goes into the oven.

2. covering the dough with an upside down brownie pan or some other deep pan to capture the evaporating steam from the dough.  This creastes a small humid environment within the brownie pan.

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

-Adam

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Adam, how old is your oven?  I replaced my (natural gas) stove earlier this year and have had no issues with a loss of steam - confirmed by the condensation that forms on my reading glasses if I pop open the door and peek in.

My breads have great oven spring and boldly carmelized crusts without the use of any cover or wetting the dough.  I just pour hot water in a pan beneath my stone.

The new stove is also a thousand times better insulated than my previous gas stove, as I discovered this summer when baking bread.  I was amazed that my kitchen didn't heat up like it used to when I used my old clunker oven, which seemd to vent more heat than containing it.  I don't think there was an increase of over five degrees F during the bake, if that, which was quite surprising.  I've since learned that self-cleaning ovens are more heavily insulated, so that's a positive factor in my case.

There are a few user opinions about Gorenje appliances on the Web; they appear to indicate it is a quality product.  Perhaps Maple could learn more about the quality of insulation offered.

 

 

 

 

Radicalkat's picture
Radicalkat

LindyD,

I'm not sure how old my gas oven is.  I'm guessing more than ten years, and it was not a top-of-the-line oven even when it was new (just going by comparisons with ovens I've seen in stores recently).

Your comment is very interesting to me because I think a lot about what oven I would get if I ever needed to buy a new one.  Given my difficulities trapping steam, I was thinking I would get an electric oven, although I really love a gas oven for all other purposes.  Now i may have to investigate gas ovens further!

-Adam

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Adam, I understand your frustration, believe me.  I had been using a 15-year old  apartment sized Magic Chef cheapo stove. The "insulation" around the oven door was a loose piece of rubber stripping and the oven had one temp:  550F.   More heat blasted from that stove than was contained in the oven and the only way I could control the oven temp was to open the door!  Steam was a dream.

I prefer gas for cooking (especially today, since the power just went back on after a 20-hour outage) and flipped out over the technology of sealed burners, pilotless ignition, a self-cleaning oven, great insulation, and an accurate thermostat which maintains the programmed temp.  Nirvana.

You could rationalize a new purchase because with pilotless ignition, you'll be saving money.  Plus the appliance sales will start soon!  :-)

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

When we moved into our house about five years ago, the oven had just been replaced with a new Ceran-top Kenmore Plus.  I'm sure it's not top of the line, but it is a nice stove, especially once I learned how to clean the Ceran cooktop and keep it looking like new.

From the beginning, however, the oven did not seem to bake correctly.  After a month or two of things taking forever to get done, I realized the top element wasn't working.  I had my father-in-law replace it, and he said the entire thing was hooked up wrong.  Once he fixed it, it worked much better.  But it still seemed to take a bit longer to bake things than the recipes said it should.

Finally, about a year ago I invested in an inexpensive oven thermometer, and I discovered that my oven runs about 20 degrees F cool.  Armed with that knowlegde, I adjust my temps up by 20 d, and everything cooks better.

Moral of the story:  whatever your stove situation, invest in an oven thermometer.  It will save you a lot of headaches.

trhoma6432's picture
trhoma6432

I use a G.E. Elite convection oven and it is the best oven I've ever had. I've used Wolf, Thermador, Vulcan and to tell you the truth for home use I would put this G.E. up against any of them for performance(not for appearance, of coarse the high-end are high-end for a reason but for performance) . I wish there was more oven room but that is what has to be given up when there is limited kitchen space. Love the G.E. convection though.......To the person in Dubai, I also have very little ventilation. That is why I went with the electric. Even in the self cleaning mode it puts out very little heat outside the oven body and it is much cheaper than than many of the high priced competitors.