August 3, 2007 - 12:17pm
spraying a gas oven
Hi everybody!
I just recently moved into a house with a BEAUTIFUL new gas range and oven that I am very excited about. I'm a little nervous however about spraying the inside of the oven (as per the BBA method) with water for hearth breads. Has anyone tried this? Success? Failure? I'm mostly concerned about ruining my oven.... but I'll be very sad if I can't bake hearth breads anymore!
Thanks!
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Kate,
I spray my gas oven all the time. In fact, waiting for it to come to temp so I can slide the dough in. I also use a pan of hot water on the floor of the oven.
If you have a light, be careful to not spray it. I spray both sides several times of the oven during the first 30 seconds I have my bread in. I once sprayed too much on the floor and actually put the flame out.
Multiple people on this site have ruined their ovens with water, so if you are concerned I would suggest you not spray it.
If you do decide to spray, a couple of recommendations that may reduce the risk to your oven:
DON'T BLOCK THE VENTS! Both of the oven deaths that I can recall come from people trying to get their oven really steamy by blocking the vent. Home ovens are not designed to keep the moisture in, so if you don't let the moisture out through your vent it will find another way out, like your control panel.
Don't spray the walls or door. Instead, put an iron skillet on the rack below your baking stone and preheat the oven with it there. When you want to steam, throw a cup of ice cubes on the pan.
Respecting those guidelines, many people here add moisture to their oven without experiencing any problems.
Happy baking!
I run a commercial kitchen and all we use is gas. I bake about 25 -75 kg of dough per day and I am constantly spraying the insides of them and have never had any sort of problem. I would be more concerned about spraying water in an electric oven than a gas oven. For a more constant steam, as has been mentioned, you could put the water in a pan on the bottom of the oven which would also eliminate your concern.
rcornwall
rcornwall,
What kind of oven o you use?
Sylvia
I stopped sparying because it's frankly a bit of a pain (ok, a weak pun) and also because everytime you open the door to do so, the oven temps drops as much as 50 degrees or so.
Now I just use the cast iron skillet and add a cup or so of ice cubes after putting the dough in.
-brian
I haven't broken the glass on my door, but I can't keep the oven lights working consistently even though they have the thick glass cover over the bulb. Might be the spraying, might not... you be the judge!
-Loafer
Sylvia,
I have an old pair of old southbend ovens and a pair of extra large capacity blodgetts. They all work great.
rcornwall