The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

New to TFL. Convection ovens?

September 2, 2010 - 7:24am
Joe the baker's picture
Joe the baker

New to TFL. Convection ovens?

Hi fellow Bakers,

My Name is Joe and I am new to TFL and very ecited to be a part of the bread baking family here on TFL.  For starters, I would like to know if anyone has had experience baking Artisan breads in a Commercial gas concvection oven?  If so, what may be the advantages and disadvantages if doing so?  You feedback would be greatly appreciated.  Joe 

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Chuck's picture
Chuck
Sep 2 2010 - 10:34pm

Spreading the heat more uniformly is usually a good thing.

I know of two possible problems though:

  1. The flow of air dries the loaf out a little, so you may have to either go for higher hydration doughs or partially cover the loaves when they're baking.
  2. The flow of air tends to clear steam out of the oven as fast as you can generate it, making it difficult to get scores to open and form grigne. So often people with convection ovens turn the convection "off" for the first few minutes of baking when they're generating steam. Alternately instead of steaming, use the "covering" method, which isn't affected by convection.
Joe the baker's picture
Joe the baker
Sep 7 2010 - 9:39am

Great information, and confirms my thoughts on this subject.  I have a plan to bypass the convection fan and use that oven as gas conventional.  I will keep you informed as to the results.  Thanks again.

Joe