Gas Ovens
I just moved out of my apartment which had a simple, electric oven with one vent (which i had plugged) that turned out beatuiful bread, consistently. There was nothing digital, glass, or convection about it. Just your plain-old electric oven. Now, my new oven is a 6-burner, Vulcan gas-job. The range is fantastic, but the bread I bake in it is not. The heat seems to vent up the sides inside the oven itself and the external vent runs along the back of the oven which i'm hesitant to plug because of the gas-oven's need for airflow in order to combust the fuel. The crust just comes out pale, not golden, as I'm accustomed to, and not nearly as crusty either. I'm wondering if I should put my tiles on the floor of the oven, rather than a rack, but more importantly, what should I do about my crust? Any more steaming won't make much difference until the vent is plugged, right?
Just so you don't bother with the typical questions I always:
Preheat my tiles for 45-60min, bake at at least 450F, if not 500F, put a steam pan in the oven and pour boiling water in right after the bread goes in, spray some water in during the first two minutes, pull the loaves out when they register around 200F.
Thanks y'all,
Ross