Question about induction ranges for baking sourdough
Hello, this is my first post so I hope I put it in the right forum.
We are remodeling our kitchen and I am interested in switching from a gas oven to an induction(electric) oven. Some models have the heat source at the back of the oven (LG with Probake is the brand) and others use the heat source at the bottom which is more traditional. I use my dutch ovens when making sourdough and so they are still fully covered until the last 20 min while they brown.
I dont use the convection feature as it would dry out the bread, so I bake on regular bake (so no fan turning) but I have only used gas ovens with the heat source at the bottom. Does anybody have any advice or knowledge on whether having the electric heat source at the back or bottom of the oven would make a difference? I dont want the bread to be dried out if the heat source is coming from the back but I could be overthinking it. Thank you in advance!
I don’t have an induction oven but I use convection all the time when the bread is covered. I even make excellent loaves in a convection toaster oven. I think convection actually works better when using a dutch oven because the heat is more evenly circulated
I haven't posted here for a while but I have a whole thread about electric ovens and elements as I purchased a pizza oven that I converted to a bread oven and it took a lot of community input to get it to bake well. I would say that having an element under the stone is best and this comes from experimenting with an oven with two elements - one one the top and one under the stone. The top element (which might assume is similar to your rear heat source issue is exposed and if that is the case with your rear setup then I can say with some confidence that you want to avoid this for the exact reason already mentioned and that is the drying factor. So with my oven, using the top element will halt rise of the loaf and cause it to caramelize too soon. The issue that leaves me with is that if I use only the lower element, it is rather difficult to get the internal temp high enough to provide the kick needed to rise the loaf and that gets even more difficult with bigger bakes (more loaves or bigger loaves). You need to make sure a. That your element(s) are not exposed (aka they should be under the stone) and b. the internal temps after steam is introduced can sustain around 475F and stay at this temp even with a kilo or more of dough.
Sure it is entirely possible to bake good bread in toaster ovens and other devices but if you are investing in a next level oven you may find some challenges if / when you start loading more dough. bigger and more loaves really start putting demands on the energy that the oven is providing to the bake. Its the reason why industrial ovens are such massive beasts and its sometimes overlooked how important it is to have a powerful heat source and heat sink that will allow you to load up more dough.
What size oven and how much bread do you intend to bake each load ?
Here is my two cents based on using a convection oven for baking sourdough for the past 10 years. I routinely bake batards of 500g and two of these can fit nicely on my baking steel. the most important thing is getting enough moisture in your oven for the first half of the bake so the crust does not harden right away. I preheat the oven to 500F using just bake. I have an old metal 9x13 baking pan that I put a couple of dish towel in along with about 2 cups of boiling water. this goes in the oven for about five minutes to get the moisture level up. The loaves go onto the baking steel and the temp is lowered to 460F. After 15 minutes, I take the water pan out of the oven and turn the convection bake on to 420F. It takes about 16-17 minutes to finish the baking and the crust is nice and hard when it comes out of the oven.
If you are baking large loaves you may have to adjust the timing of the second phase of baking. As my oven is part of a slide in range, there is no way I can use a Dutch Oven (75 year olds don't play well with heavy cast iron pots. If you are using a Dutch Oven as you describe, it really doesn't matter as the pot top keeps moisture in until it's removed. Using convection will have no impact on your loaf as the top is likely below the lid height of the Dutch Oven.
I dont use the convection feature as it would dry out the bread, so I bake on regular bake (so no fan turning) but I have only used gas ovens with the heat source at the bottom. Does anybody have any advice or knowledge on whether having the electric heat source at the back or bottom of the oven would make a difference? I dont want the bread to be dried out if the heat source is coming from the back but I could be overthinking it. Thank you in advance!
Does anybody have any advice or knowledge on whether having the electric heat source at the back or bottom of the oven would make a difference? I dont want the bread to be dried out if the heat source is coming from the back but I could be overthinking it. Thank you in advance!
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