December 6, 2010 - 12:15pm
Oven for 4 loaves (stone is a must?)
Hi there,
I am baking about 25 loaves a week with using a lot of info I learned from you guys.
I am baking it two loaves a time in a home oven a few days a week.
After 18 months of selling these loaves I am going to buy an industrial mixer (10L) and thinking of an oven.
I was always sure that an oven with a stone is a must but then I saw the guy from SCRATCHBread using an oven without a stone baking artisan breads with two decks (levels, floors).
Do you have a reccomendation for a good oven (not very big - should still be in my home)?
Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
David Zonsheine Tel Aviv
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I dunno what's available there.
In the U.S., there are a few "extra-wide" models (40", 48", 60") of the typical home kitchen oven. They're not at all common ...but they do exist.
Maybe a good quality (not an el cheapo) convection/fan oven that blows the heat around evenly will allow you to use another shelf in the top half the oven. With two loaves on the lower shelf and another two on that upper shelf maybe that would be enough for you.
Or you may be in the market for a "deck oven" (probably a used one from a growing bakery, maybe a "pastry" size, and probably gas [unless you're up for significant electrical rewiring]). Often the equivalent of a baking stone is built right in as an integral part of a deck oven, but it may be called something else (ex: "cordierite"?).
(Also you might check out threads about baking on a sheet pan without using a baking stone. Some folks opine the baking stone is overrated -at least for the home oven- and similar results can be produced without it ...and with less energy too:-)
good luck!
That you send a link to a picture / selling site for such ovens? I am not sure we have them here but if we have I will go and take a look.
Thanks, David
Or... build a brick oven. Its cheaper to build than any double-deck gas oven you might buy, and it lets you make traditional bread without all the extra fuss.