Nesco Convection Roaster
I've been experimenting with using an electric roaster to bake a loaf of bread at a time during the summer. The roaster I was using was a small, 6 quart roaster but it was big enough to do one loaf of bread. During the last 15 minutes I removed the loaf from the pan and turned it on it's side to brown the top and bottom of the loaf since the heating element is around the edges of the roaster rather than on the bottom.
I decided it worked well enough that I would do this regularly in order to have fresh bread during the summer months and so I though it was worth my money to invest in a larger roaster that I could also use for other things throughout the year. While doing a little online comparison shopping and trying to decide how big and what brand of roaster I wanted I found this Nesco convection roaster and purchased it because of the convection fan.
So I'm about to enter unchartered territory. Although I have figured out how to use an electric roaster to bake a loaf of bread I've never used a convection oven at all, much less a convection roaster. After reading what I could find about standard convection ovens I've decided that I might start by putting about 3/4 cup of hot water in the preheated roaster with the bread to steam it, leaving the fan off at first for maybe 15 minutes or so and then turn the fan on to finish baking the bread. I thought it might be better to leave the fan off at the start just to make sure I didn't counter the effect of the steam and dry out the top of my loaf.
I'm assuming nobody on this forum has used one of these for bread, either that or my search skills need honing. But I would love to hear any thoughts or advice that any of you might have on this.
Thanks!