Just curious if anyone has any experience using a CADCO brand oven.  My regular electric oven has always had thermostat issues but my landlord isn't in a hurry to replace it.  Locally, there seem to be some good deals on their smaller (ov-250) ovens (pdf-link) at the moment and I am curious if anyone has baked in one.

I'm a simple girl.  My only requirement of my kitchen appliances and untensils is that they work, and work well, for the application I intend to use them.  This, among other things, is why I replaced the oven that came with this house as soon as financially possible.

I'm a gas person.  Always have been and always will be.  I can't cook very well on an electric stove.  When we went looking for houses before our baby was born, I looked at the range in every house and said no to almost every house that had an electric one.  We didn't really have the money to get a new one right away at the time.  Almost every house...except this one.

There were other very nice things about this house, though.  4 bedrooms.  1.5 bathrooms.  Big dining area that could, someday, turn into a very dreamy kitchen for yours truly.  Big patch of rhubarb on one side of the garage.  Big patch of blackberry bushes on the other side.  A peach tree in the backyard.  Plenty of room for a garden, and a patch that was partitioned off with beams of wood that could easily be turned into some sort of melon or strawberry patch without the rest of the garden being overgrown.

The not-so-nice things were many as well.  Electric range.  Carpet upstairs that didn't look as though it had been changed since the 70's.  A kitchen floor with linoleum so old that it had little bits of dirt permanently ground into it.  Very little counter space.

We got it anyway due to the aforementioned very nice things.  I've always wanted a space for a garden.

Fast forward a few months.  I'm about 5 months pregnant and the annual friends and family sale is going on through Electrolux.  My boyfriend works at the plant here in town, and his sister works at the Beam plant.  So we get the list of things and start perusing, not really thinking of getting anything.  Lo and behold, on the last page, sits my dream: a 5 burner gas range with 5 cubic ft. convection oven.  Big enough to do 4 9" cakes in.  Big enough to bake even the biggest batch of bread that I felt I could handle.  If we'd gone to Lowe's to pick up the same oven, we would've paid close to $1200. In the sale, it was less than $600.

My grandparents wanted to get us a housewarming gift anyway, and so we asked both sets to chip in and then we paid the rest.  I *cried* the day I used it for the first time.  Cookies come out perfect.  Bread bakes up so beautifully.  I thought the crying thing was just because I was pregnant, but sometimes I still get a little teary-eyed when I think about how great it is to have a range that won't burn things on the bottom and leave them raw on top.

So I wanted to say thank you to my oven.  I feed it good dough and it gives me good bread.  Such a harmonious relationship.

Hello All

I took a break from bread making for the latter part of the summer and now I am back into it again. I have a problem though and wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this. I have a GE Gas oven, not sure the model number its about 5 years old and was working okay up til about 2-3 weeks ago. I cannot get it hot enough, I set it to 450 - 500 and the thermometer I am using only gets up to 350. I know its not that hot because the breads I make do not have the crust and crumb I have grown to know and love and the pizza I have baked recently barely got done. Is the oven shot, time to get a new one? Any suggestions.

Thanks

Alex

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

My starter has been active but no leavening after seven days.  Started with 1C flour and 1C water.  Replacing half of the starter w/ fresh AP flour and distilled water every 12 hours or so.  I get small bubbles and hooch but no big rise.  I'd read a tip to use your oven as a proofing box by turning on the oven light to heat the inside.  I am reading 78ºF on the middle rack where I have my jar of starter and now have about 1/4" of leavening above my mark.  Good stuff!

Room temp in our house is around 68-69 so this heat for the starter seems welcome.  Wish I woulda started day one in the oven with the 78ºF.  Imagine it'd be further along by now.

Hans

P.S. - the next time I make a starter, it will be with 2T of water and equal weight of flour.  I am using 1/2C of each and it's been a bit wasteful when I could achieve the same with smaller quantities and bulk up later when I want to bake bread.

Hi,

So i was mulling over baking techniques and adding a few things together. Namely:

- professional restaurant ovens are optimally sized to bake whatever they're baking. eg pizzeria ovens are just tall enough to clear a pizza. this reduces wasted energy, heating only a volume of air that is in contact with the baked good.

- heating a small space is cheaper and quicker than heating a large space.

- the Oven in an Oven method traps moisture from the dough and keeps it close to the crust.

- most baked goods do not fill up an entire oven. a 16 lb turkey does, but not three one-lb loaves.

ok, so the distillation of all that is: can we modify our kitchen ovens to bake bread in the most efficient way possible?

essentially, can we form an insulating barrier inside the oven, effectively minimizing the amount of energy needed to keep it hot?

has anyone attempted this? i'd be very interested in trying something like this, considering that when i make 1 lb of bread, i have to heat up a space maybe 20-30x larger than i need to.

Here's a pic of our latest toy -- a wood-fired oven ala Alan Scott. It makes wonderful bread and pizza as well as other tasty things. For example, after the bread is done, the oven is just right for loading up with a large pork butt or two. 12-14 hrs. later, perfect pulled pork to put on those fresh sandwich buns!

I'm new to this forum and I'm finding lots of useful information on breadmaking. All but what kind of mixer to buy, that is. Based on what I've read here, it'll be either a new KA or a Bosch. (It seems that no matter what I choose, 50% will be sure I made the wrong choice!) ;-)

ClimbHi
Pittsburgh, PA

Here's a look at my newest kitchen toy -- a wood-fired oven ala Alan Scott. It's just outside my kitchen door on our back porch. This thing is a blast to use and turns out great meals, including bread. One of the neatest uses we've found so far is that, after the bread is cooked, the oven is just right for loading up with a large pork butt or two. 12-14 hrs later, perfect pulled pork to put on those fresh sandwich buns!

ClimbHi