74 replies to this topic

[Alex]

I wonder how quickly the Breville makes toast, and how subjectively powerful the broiler is. If it's as good as all that, I may decide my brick oven is truly a brick.

It depends on what and how much and how dark you're toasting. It also depends on whether you're starting with a cold (i.e. room temp) interior or one that's already heated up from the previous toasting or other use. For us, the first two slices of multi-grain bread, medium darkness (setting #4), are done in four minutes. Two frozen bagel halves take five minutes. Banana bread, for some reason, takes a little longer.

I haven't used the broiler much, but keeping in mind the size of the unit, it seems pretty efficient and even-heating to me.

[Sid Post]

I have used my 800XL for about 18 months continously. If I wasn't living in an extended stay motel for a long period of time, I probably would never have known how good a toaster oven could be.

I routinely cook pork chops, steaks, etc. in mine with the broiler with good results. Hamburgers are easy but, the steaks and other thicker things like chicken thighs need to be put on the middle rack position since they are too thick for the top slot and would touch the cooking element.

Frozen pizzas turn out great. The convenction cooking feature cooks quickly and evenly. Be sure to turn the heat down a notch to keep from over browning the cheese and crust.

Toast and bread are set and forget things. The darkness control makes optimal browning very easy. Toast, muffins, and bagels are done before coffee is ready even when coffee is started first.

Edited by Sid Post, 20 December 2011 - 01:38 PM.

[GlowingGhoul]

After using many models over the years, the 800XL was a pleasent surprise. Performs very well, excellent amount of room inside, and aesthetically pleasing enough to reside on the counter next to other high end small appliances.

My only gripe is quality control and the tactile feedback of the knobs. I bought and returned 2 for arriving with dents, scratches, and a warped crumb tray that pulled out every time I opened the door. The knobs feel sloppy and the clicks as you turn them are indistinct.

That said, it's the best model on the market by far IMHO, and once you get a good one, it's a very nice unit overall. We use it every day.

[gfweb]

...

I have been following this discussion with interest. I currently have the Cuisinart Brick Oven and I can get 1/4 sheet pans in it too. When it finally bites the dust, I will be looking at the Breville as a replacement. Being able to use 1/4 sheet pans has now become something I am not prepared to sacrifice!

So my Brick oven finally bit the dust - it no longer maintains its temperature. Suspect it may be something simple like dirty contacts and my SIL will be attempting to repair it. However, living without a small oven is not something I am prepared to do so I pulled the trigger and bought the Breville Smart Oven. So far I am very impressed though it is one appliance where reading the manual really is important. There you will find that the pre-heat temperature is only 80% of the set temperature and that the temperature should be taken with the rack in the "toast" position. The rational offered by Breville for the 80% is that you will lose 20% of the heat when you open the door to put your pan in there. Seems reasonable until you figure that it is STILL going to lose 20% of its heat only now it is really 40%! So after a rather depressing result with my first attempt at bread baking I have learned to put a thermometer in there and wait until it actually reaches the set temperature.
The other thing I have noticed is that it appears to automatically adjust for convection so it adjusts the set temperature down by 25F if you chose the convection option.
Once you get over these quirks the oven is a joy to use. It's early yet as I have only had it for a week or two but so far, so good.

Any more bread experience with the smart oven?

[lindag]

After reading all the reviews shere I've placed my order for the 800XL today.
One thing I'd particularly like to use it for is baking bread.
Has anyone done this successfully?
Any tips or comments would be appreciated.

[Anna N]

After reading all the reviews shere I've placed my order for the 800XL today.
One thing I'd particularly like to use it for is baking bread.
Has anyone done this successfully?
Any tips or comments would be appreciated.

The issue with bread will only happen if you are baking a loaf in a 9x5 or similar pan and it really rises! There simply is not enough height in the oven to accommodate a high risen loaf. You have about 5.5 inches between the top of the shelf in its lowest position and the heating element (and that is without a pizza stone in place). Other than that I have baked lots of bread with no issues and it does a fine job.


There is no possibility of putting a pan of water on the bottom of the oven so I spray the loaves prior to baking. I have a pizza stone in the oven when baking free form. It was one I had in the house, 13 inches in circumference, and it just fits as there is a `bay`` to accommodate the supplied pizza pan.

[gfweb]

Do you have baguette or french bread pans that fit the smart oven?

[mgaretz]

After reading all the reviews shere I've placed my order for the 800XL today.
One thing I'd particularly like to use it for is baking bread.
Has anyone done this successfully?
Any tips or comments would be appreciated.

I have made challah a few times and it came out great.

[tikidoc]

I have done ciabatta a bunch of times and it worked great.

[Anna N]

Do you have baguette or french bread pans that fit the smart oven?

Not me but I have never used them even in my full-size oven.

[lindag]

Anna,
Those are some killer loaves! Won't have my oven until Monday; were those baked one-at-a-time?
It'll be interesting to experiment with different shapes, although mostly I bake 9x5 loaves for toasting or sandwiches.
I did order the Breville pizza stone at the same time as I like to do homemade pizza as well.

[Anna N]

Anna,
Those are some killer loaves! Won't have my oven until Monday; were those baked one-at-a-time?
It'll be interesting to experiment with different shapes, although mostly I bake 9x5 loaves for toasting or sandwiches.
I did order the Breville pizza stone at the same time as I like to do homemade pizza as well.

Thank you. No, they are mini baguettes and were baked 2 at a time. You can, of course, use the diagonal of the oven to get more room lengthwise. I think it is around 17 inches edge to edge so you would have to make your loaves a bit smaller than that but it is something to think about. I hope you don't run into issues with the 9x5 if you are using a bread pan as there is not much height to play with. I did mention this earlier.

[gfweb]

Thanks, Anna et al. Got the thing yesterday and I love it. Warms up quick and has intuitive controls. Baguettes came out great.

The thing does down-temp when convention is on, which I don't see the point of. Set for 400 and you get an actual 360 on convection (though it says 400). The fix is to keep convection off till warmed-up, put in the food and then turn on convection. Then you get the 400 you asked-for.

Engineers think too much sometimes.

[Anna N]

Another quirk I discovered today is that it assumes you will not be cooking anything for more than 2 hours - reasonable except when you love slow braises! It is a safety feature but a damned nuisance for us slow cooking fans.

[Marlene]

Another quirk I discovered today is that it assumes you will not be cooking anything for more than 2 hours - reasonable except when you love slow braises! It is a safety feature but a damned nuisance for us slow cooking fans.

Yes that's a bit of a drawback.

[sahmd]

I got mine a few months ago and am very pleased. Roasted my first chicken in it tonight, so I thought I'd share. It was delicious. :-)

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[Anna N]

I got mine a few months ago and am very pleased. Roasted my first chicken in it tonight, so I thought I'd share. It was delicious. :-)

Out of curiosity how big was your chicken (oh and thanks for sharing ).

[lindag]

In reading the instruction booklet that came with my 800XL (which arrived yesterday, thankyouverymuch)
I see that they recommend whole chicken be no larger than 4.5 lbs. I'm impressed! That's pretty darned big for a toaster oven!
Anyway, I plan to start putting my oven through its paces today; starting with a bagel, a fresh pizza...maybe some frozen fishsticks, a guilty fave from Costco.
Speaking of the fishsticks, I'm thinking that they'd go on the bottom shelf on the 'bake' setting(?)
Package instructions say bake at 400° convection for 9-11 minutes in a conventional oven.

[mgaretz]

Speaking of the fishsticks, I'm thinking that they'd go on the bottom shelf on the 'bake' setting(?)
Package instructions say bake at 400° convection for 9-11 minutes in a conventional oven.

That's the place to start, but watch them as you get close to 9 minutes. Sometimes the Breville cooks things more efficiently than a full size oven.

[sahmd]

It was a bit over 4 pounds, stuffed with lemon, onion, garlic, and rosemary. 15 min at 400F (convection), then a bit less than an hour at 375. Crisp skin and juicy (white and dark) meat.

Next time I may start it a bit higher and pull it out a bit sooner, but it was pretty darn good.

[Cmd2012]

I love mine. I bought it as a temporary oven when my range was in the process of being replaced (which took 6 weeks under warranty), but I cook for 2 and find that I have continued to use it every day despite having my regular oven back. I roast all sorts of things (meat, chicken, fish, and veggies), use it to make toast, broil open faced sandwiches, toast nuts, bake casseroles, do hors d'ouevres, and the odd frozen pizza, and it's all worked exactly the way it should. I'm 6 months in without a hiccup. The only thing I haven't used it for is baking bread or sweets, mainly because we don't eat a lot of those. I can't imagine not having it at this point. Toast is more perfect on the top than the bottom, but it's still more convenient to do all the slices at once than to do sequential toasting with the toaster, plus I find I can time things better as it gives a countdown to when the toast will be done. I didn't think this would be a selling feature when I bought it, but I like that you can set the time and it turns itself off when the time is done. It holds things nice and warm, and you don't have to run to grab things out if you're busy with something else. The keep warm function (at 160) works really well too.

[lindag]

I've been using my Breville now for two months nearly every day. It is a product that (assuming it lasts) was well worth the cost. Using it for toast, bagels, reheating pizza slices, braising, etc. I've only found a couple things that it doesn't do well. The broil unit doesn't get hot enough to cook salmon, I've had to return to using my oven broiler for that...it takes much, much longer in the Breville. Also, the breads I make are of the 9x5" loaf variety as a rule and get too tall for the height of the Breville resulting in overbrowning of the top. I have coveed the loaves with foil for the last minutes but prefer the consistency of my range oven for that task.
Also, I like my toast quite brown; and even on the #7 setting it doesn't always get dark enough for my taste, not a really big deal as I can always re-start it and let it go another minute or two.
All in all, I am really thrilled with my oven and have learned to rely on it for daily use. I only wish I had bought it sooner.

[Doodad]

Anybody have any experience with the smaller versions that are out now?

[jasie]

Just a heads up. :) The Breville Smart oven is on sale today (10/18/12) (REFURBISHED) for $139.99 + $5 shipping on Woot.

http://home.woot.com...ille-smart-oven

[gfweb]

Just a heads up. :) The Breville Smart oven is on sale today (10/18/12) (REFURBISHED) for $139.99 + $5 shipping on Woot.

http://home.woot.com...ille-smart-oven

Huge bargain!

[rotuts]

I have the smaller of the two Breville ovens, as it fit in my kitchen better that a larger one. I wasnt going to do a whole chicken anyway. It works fine. the comment on toast ( #7 setting ) is true: toast on an initial setting should be darker and the max time should be adjusted up

that said, It still get it again knowing this.

[MelissaH]

Breville's customer service has also been good for me. I had an oven, the larger of the two, and the convection fan all of a sudden got very loud and rattly. I phoned them, explained the problem, and within half an hour had an email containing a FedEx label to send the oven back. I dropped the old one off on Friday morning, and yesterday (Wednesday) had a new one waiting on my doorstep when I returned home in the afternoon. I suspect the turnaround would have been even quicker had the problem not occurred on a Thursday night, leading to a weekend delay.

MelissaH

[lindag]

I just can't say enough about this oven. It's been in use just about every day (sometimes multiple times) for about ten months.
It just does its job so well. I would buy another in a heartbeat if this one failed. I love never having to eat leftover microwaved pizza again. It goes in the Breville on 'reheat' at 350° for about 10 minutes and it's every bit as good as freshly baked.
So nice not to have to wait for the big oven to heat up when this one is ready in minutes.
Pork chops, chicken, casseroles...everything comes out perfectly.

[HungryC]

Okay, I'm considering a Smart Oven, but I don't understand the controls. Is everything preprogrammed? Or can I set it for x minutes at x degrees? I saw a brief in store demo, but the demonstrator emphasized the preset auto cook modes, and I didn't quite understand if I could get any temp I'd like for any time period I need. (Though its ability to hold a quarter sheet pan is pretty compelling.)

[Anna N]

Okay, I'm considering a Smart Oven, but I don't understand the controls. Is everything preprogrammed? Or can I set it for x minutes at x degrees? I saw a brief in store demo, but the demonstrator emphasized the preset auto cook modes, and I didn't quite understand if I could get any temp I'd like for any time period I need. (Though its ability to hold a quarter sheet pan is pretty compelling.)

You can set any time/temp combination but the max. time you can set is 2 hours if I remember correctly.