Getting the most out of a Vulcan commercial oven
I'm planning to make enough ciabatta for 30-35 people using a Vulcan Snorkel commercial gas oven with convection to bake in.
The oven goes to 500 dF. Maintaining enough steam for the initial part of the bake is problematic with a convection feature that can't be turned off.
I'm looking for some suggestions for a work around to make this bake a success. BTW I will make a run of these a week before the party to make sure I have the kinks worked out. Instead of using trays I was going to line the rack with tiles and put the dough on parchment and use a peel to slide them on the tiles. Should I get some lava rock for creating the steam, and maybe cover the loaves with a foil tray? Pouring water on the bottom of the oven creates the steam but the blower removes it pretty quickly. I used a small cast iron pan with hot water which seemed to help but it's not really enough for the size of the cavity this monster has.
I met a baker in Chicago during my visit to a bakery open house last weekend. He suggested I use a tray with chain in a tray to pour water on to create the steam and to do this twice during the initial part of the bake.
I have a piece of soapstone that I will put on a rack and transfer the parchment directly onto that.
you are overthinking it. Ciabatta is pretty wet....half a dozen sprays into the oven with a mister should do the trick. I would also stick with the trays...no real need to complicate matters and risk loss of control of shape of your final product. I always use a stone for bread with the 2 exceptions being Ciabatta and rolls then I use 1/2 sheet pans with great success. Good luck!!