Rofco B20 - My experience
Hey there everyone,
How's it going? I hope all is well.
I've just recently started a micro bakery and bought a Rofco B20 and would like to share my experience.
The Rofco B20 is a Belgium made deck oven consisting of three levels and able to fit 6 900gr loaves approximately.
As other users have stated here, the oven indeed need some experimentation, and getting used to, but it does wonders when you understand the language it speaks. The logic behind the oven is to heat the stones up at the desired temp for approx 1.5 hours, inject steam and put the loaves in.
Upon my initial test for temp control and regulation, I had done Ken Forkish's Overnight White Loaf which turned out amazing. I preheated the oven at 250 degrees celcius for 1.5 hours, put the loaves in, injected steam with a garden sprayer then brought the temp down to 200 degrees celcius. I baked the loaves with steam for 20 mins, then let the steam out by opening the little circle openings in the door, then open the door to let all the steam out.
Upon my test with 2 sourdough loaves, I found these temps were not working well. In my initial sourdough test with two loaves on the top and middle deck, I found the loaves spreading and not getting that oven spring needed. I preheated the oven to 250, dropped it down to 200 like I did previously and injected steam with a garden sprayer. I think one mistake I may have done is spray the water too close to the loaves which ended up cooling the stones down. I also found that the loaves after releasing the steam from the oven were browning way too quickly at 200 degrees, in literally 7 minutes.
Upon my second test, I preheated the oven to 250 degrees for 1.5 hours, then dropped the heat down to 180 degrees celcius this time. When spraying for steam, I primarily sprayed the walls this time, and the door, doing 10 second sprays for each level. I also dropped my loaves hydration levels from 75% to 72%. These loaves turned out fantastic I'd say. They jumped right up because of the sudden heat and steam, with great oven spring. I've attached some pictures as well :) (First photo is a white country loaf, an olive loaf and a date and walnut loaf, second photo os a date and walnut loaf and third photo is a white county loaf)
Hope this helps other rofco users as well.