November 25, 2020 - 5:24am
Bagels in Commercial Convection Oven - Electric vs Gas?
Hi all -
I've been baking boiled bagels for 6 months in a commissary with a Garland Gas Convection Oven. Everyone has loved the bagels, it's been fantastic. I just opened my own facility and purchased an electric Bakers Pride Cyclone Series Convection Oven, and it's been a nightmare. Steam shooting out the front, wet bottoms, burnt tops, no luck. Tried several tests.
Have y'all had experience trying bagels in both gas and electric convection? I wouldn't have thought there would be such a large difference...help!
Thank you :)
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I have never used a combi oven, but it sounds like there is an issue with your door seal. Stick a dollar bill on the gasket in various places around the oven door, shut the doors on it, and tug the bill out. A proper seal will give resistance. A bad seal will give little or no resistance at all. This is often the culprit of the symptoms you describe and is certainly the first and cheapest malady to remedy, as it could be as simple as that. If you are getting hot spots when you cook without steam, or if the convection fan sounds loud, these would be further indications of a poor seal.
If this is the case, what is happening is that the oven is sending more steam to reach a desired humidity level, but the sensor is reading a false low because moisture is leaking through the doors, causing the chamber to over steam and the effects you have described.
It must be a bad seal, I had that feeling too. It's brand new but all it has are metal gaskets, no mesh/silicone/anything, and the air easily gets out. Poor design in my opinion. Probably going to return and get a Southbend or Blodgett, and convert my space for gas.
I have an old Southbend and a less old one. The older one has just the metal gaskets and has such a bad seal I am amazed they used to build them that way.
If you read my thread here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/65316/new-oven-build-preliminary-results you will see I had similar issues. I ended up applying a gasket and high temp silicone to the interior joints. From here it still took a lot of practice to learn the quirks. So not bagels although I have done a few in my gas oven but yet to do bagels in this electric unit. Yeah I had steam coming out of everywhere !