The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Question about Eurodib Steam Oven

yeti10's picture
yeti10

Question about Eurodib Steam Oven

Hi everyone. I just received the Eurodib steam oven and noticed it only goes up to 200C or 400F and the artisan bread recipes that I have been seeing show 450 or so. Can I cook the bread at 400F and just extend the time without messing up the loaf? I have always done these in the oven so hitting 500 was possible before.

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

I think you are going to be the test subject and let us know.  Actually, there are some of us that use other combi steam ovens, and they max out at 440 or so, so it is not all that different than 400.  Yes you will need to bake it a little longer, but it should taste fine, not sure how the crust and crumb will come out.  

yeti10's picture
yeti10

OK I just made up a batch of dough. Will cook tomorrow and find out. l will let you all know.

yeti10's picture
yeti10

I will take a picture to and see what you all think about the crust also. It was only about 190 on Amazon so I will give it a try.

yeti10's picture
yeti10

 I have been experimenting with 5 minute a day bread. I used bread flour instead of all-purpose in this recipe. I am finding out its to wet, but that me and not the oven. Temp wise its cooking to fast so temps are not going to be a problem. Maybe because of it being a convection steam oven instead of a conventional oven I need to turn it down some. Also the small volume of the oven may have something to do with it. I also noticed that the bread needs to be turned mid way, the back of the bread is done more than the front towards the door. It looks like it will work once I get to know how to use it.

deblacksmith's picture
deblacksmith

I don't know about "home" convection ovens but for commerical convection ovens you use about 25 F lower temperature and about 25 percent shorter times.  I do a lot of cooking at our church and we have two commerical convection ovens and I really like them.  Wish they had steam.

yeti10's picture
yeti10

EurodibThe description of the oven does not say "convection" but since it will heat up the kitchen and has a surprisingly strong fan for the venting of the steam I assumed it works like a convection oven. Also after having to throw away several loafs because the heating elements are so close to the bread(about the size of a microwave) I finally learned to tent the bread until the last 10 minutes or so. Last night I made a white bread loaf in a pull-man pan and removed the tent at 15 minutes left in the cooking time and it was close, a little dark so next time I will try 10 minutes. I noticed the crust was thicker than I have been able to get out of a regular oven. I also noticed that this oven will kick out a lot of steam if I am in the steam only mode(water will be dripping off the walls), so I am thinking of adding a shot glass of extra water in the water heating plate at the start of the cook next time to increase the initial steam at the start. Still learning, this isn't a steam oven set up for bread making, so the controls need to be manually set by the cook. Unfortunately, no automatic settings for bread. There is plenty of auto settings for meats, cakes, veggies, defrost with steam, etc. but just not bread. These are inexpensive  so I took a chance. I paid more than this for my microwave. Edit: Added picture.

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

I have an auto setting for bread in my combi steam oven, but never use it.  It doesn't give me the option to specify the weight of the dough or the shape, so I am not so sure the settings would work all that well. 

yeti10's picture
yeti10

Um, ya I never thought of that. I don't know how any of the other combi-ovens work, but I thought I would mention for those that don't have a stove like this( I did not know before I got this) that these put out a timed release of water into the hot plate every few minutes and there's no way to adjust that, its automatic and will vary depending on what mode your in. Steam only(with temp adjust in this mode between 55-65C), steam/grill, grill(up to 200C). Also you cant turn off and on the top heating element and only use the bottom heating element until you wanted to brown the crust, causing an overdone top(black)of the bread. Hence the tenting with aluminum foil for bread baking.  Wish I could change the pump setting and turn off and on the top element but I cant.  Anyway, I will work with what I have and try a chicken next! Thanks

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

The other issue with combi ovens is there are not many cookbooks.  Here is a site with some links.https://sites.google.com/site/combisteamconvectionsteamoven/home/recipes-and-guides

 If you want to do something great, try making a cheesecake using just the steam setting.  You cover the pan with plastic wrap held on by a rubber band, and the whole oven works like a water bath at a low temperature.   It comes out very moist and no cracking.  

yeti10's picture
yeti10

Thanks for the recipes. This came with none. I am having some thoughts to and they tend to get me in trouble. But here goes. Looks like the stainless steel case just has a few screws and it would be easy to take off. If I can get to the wires that go to the top heating element were I could put in a switch it would help as long as the bottom heating element can keep the heat up. Or barring that put in some screw's on the inside right and left side below the top heating element to hold a perforated plate that can be slid in and out when needed to block the direct heat hitting the bread. When the heating elements come on there glowing red so there to hot for bread and just go on and off for maintaining the heat. But these ideas of mine sometimes don't work. I will think about it for awhile.

yeti10's picture
yeti10

Or get really fancy(and better) and put in a variable resistor to change the power going to the top element. That would be great. But there goes any warranty.

yeti10's picture
yeti10

barryvabeach's picture
barryvabeach

Nice looking loaf.  I have played with the wiring of pizza ovens, and that was pretty straightforward.  I took apart the combi, but the wiring was pretty complex, and you may run into a problem since the controls are computer based, turning off the top element may confuse the controller logic.  I would just stay with tenting for now, since the results look fine. 

yeti10's picture
yeti10

OK I will leave it alone. Thanks for your technical advice. I want to try other foods in it now, and I am glad it has auto settings for them and see how they work.