Baking in a turbo broiler
Hi there!
I've been reading several topics on this site ever since I've started making bread. Every question I ask Google seems to have a topic from this site as a result. It was basically unavoidable. I've seen lots of helpful discussions about nearly everything I want to know about. This time, I want to give back to the community by creating a guide about baking on this strange type of oven.
My oven is a Hanabishi HTB-128 turbo broiler that we got for a very affordable price (~$50). I was supposed to get a small oven, but found out that turbo broilers are much less energy-hungry than those ovens. It performs just like a conventional convection oven when you bake cake and pastries. What had me scratching my head was when I tried to make bread in it. It was just a lot more complex than I thought it would be. I've spent lots of time trying to search for guides on baking bread in this machine, but there ain't any, so here I am making one.
A turbo broiler has one ring heating element located at the top lid over a large fan. A quick Google search should give you an idea. This makes it act like a convection oven.
Key differences are: preheating is almost unnecessary, I preheat just to get the heating element red and start baking from there and; the top of your baked goods would burn a lot faster upon using some types of baking pans although; baked goods doesn't brown as well as in a conventional oven.
My turbo broiler is limited to 492 degrees F, but I can only get it to 450 degrees F due to the flimsy knob that doesn't let me set it higher. So I always try to avoid or adjust bread recipes that ask for crazy temperatures, such as those that asks to be baked at 500 or even up to 800 degrees F. Since the top of my bread gets a lot more heat than the bottom would regularly do, I use a stainless-steel baking pan that absorbs and transfers heat very effectively. But for some reason, the bottom browned much better than the top! This had me scratching my head a lot.
Another issue I'm experiencing is the very suppressed oven spring I get from baking in this type of oven, although it might just be the type of flour I'm using. No matter how much water I apply on the surface of the dough, it doesn't expand much at all. Scoring the dough doesn't seem to have much of an effect other than having crevices on your final product.
After several adjustments, I've finally found the perfect method for baking in this type of oven. Here are some tips on baking bread in this type of oven:
- Preheat just until the heat element turns red
- Use a baking pan that transfer heat effectively, such as an aluminium baking pan
- ALWAYS oil the surface of the dough before baking to boost browning
- NEVER add water nor spritz water while baking to avoid retarding the browning process
- NEVER score the dough as it is unnecessary
Thank you for reading my small post on this site. Your input would be highly appreciated.
I'm wondering if the fact that the oven has the heating element on top is responsible for lack of oven spring. A bottom element would creat heat at the bottom of the loaf which would create steam that would rise through the loaf and raise it. Instead you are setting the top crust right away and not benefitting from the bottom up steam effect. Steam is a big contributor to oven spring.
I'm never really sure. I applied water directly on the sirface of the bread, and guess what? Nothing. Scores turned into crevices, no browning at all with a really hard crust. Never doing it again.
I don't think the oven is designed for bread but you might get away with flipping the bread over half way thru the bake putting the more baked side down while the bottom finishes the bake. That might lend itself to some interesting techniques such as braiding and twists baking the bottom of the loaf first, flipping and finishing on the top. Is that doable?
Another idea might be to do rolls and not loaves when baking. Smaller single sizes might get you something decent.
I've found that ... Yolk blended with oil gets the most color on the surface followed by yolk and cream, then yolk and milk. Separate then break the egg yolk sack and discard sack, blend with the liquid 50/50. Paint onto the surface. Mayonnaise is also good for brushing on surfaces to help browning and so is malt water (or malt flour mixed with water) or sugar water.
Let rolls rise upside down on seeds. Transfer to bake upside down, flipping half way thru the bake.
Reduce hydration of doughs for a longer working window. Sticky sourdoughs sound over proofed or just too wet to begin with. Try working with dryer doughs until you figure out the best way to use the oven.