Baking Bread in a Steam & Convection Oven (Combi Oven)

[Raamo]

I've got a 24" Steam & Convection Oven now - and we've made bread in it once - at the same time as a loaf in the conventional oven.  The steam loaf won by virtue of a better crust (the only thing that should really change with introduction of steam).

 

So now I've done it once and want to do it again and again.

 

The oven has a program which only puts steam in at the start - and then switches to convection heat.  It also uses 375 F which would be equivalent to 400 in a normal oven.

 

Has anyone else done much baking in one of these?  I suspect it'll work best for anything that doesn't require a loaf pan.

 

I'm pretty sure I can play with the temperature of any recipe as long as the bread gets to the required temperature.  For instance the one loaf we've tried we cooked at a lower temp for longer then the recipe called for - and it turned out better.

 

But any insight some of you more experienced bakers might have would be appreciated.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Raamo (log)

[rotuts]

good news:  fantastic for You ! and your Cat who looks like (s)he knows what (s)he wants.  Most Excellent !

 

bad news:  ( for us ) you are probably the only member w a 24 " Combi Oven.

 

 

pics are always good

 

you might start a trend for a few "24's"

 

just saying ...

Edited March 3, 2014 by rotuts (log)

[Raamo]

The cat is a she, and her name is Alex (came from Alexandrite... the rock )  She loves to sit at the table with us!

 

So I guess I'll just start playing around, I noticed pictures seem good - of the loaf, and the crumb.  I'll see what I can drum up.  I think I'll have to start something tonight so I can bake something in a day or two.

 

It's a Thermadore 24" steam & convection oven, installed into a cabinet just above a 27" standard oven.    When I post some bread pictures I'll post the setup.  Somehow I convinced my wife to let me get it, and it's been totally awesome so far (she even thinks so).  It makes steaming veggies just so darn easy!  Not to mention really good bread from the one time we've tried it.

[rotuts]

well ...

 

thanks for your reply.   ...

 

good for you on your Investment ...

 

1 ) Alex the Cat

 

2 ) the combi oven.

 

not so related to the Cat ...  but I went out and got a lottery ticket to see If a combi in in my future

 

 a dual big one.   I let others   ( Sirens, Fate, decide  ...  old Greeks .. )

 

 

only one ticket.  One Buck.

 

 

[Barrytm]

I have a 24 inch combi as well, the Viking, and bake bread in it pretty often. It has a pro bake mode, but it does not say how long it steams, so I have not used that mode much. More often, I use the combi mode and switch steam on and off manually. I often bake free form like ciabatta, for that, I preheat a pizza stone for 30 minutes with the steam off, the turn on steam and heat for 10 minutes, then load the loaf, and turn off stream 5 or 10 minutes later. I usually bake only 100 percent whole wheat, so I can't compare my results with most photos I have seen.

[Raamo]

Thanks Barrytm - I started a starter last night, it'll become bread later today.  The program setting for bread had the steam mode on for ~10 mins of the cooking time, and it accepts a weight as an input (so that might change, or it might change total baking time) .  I was presently surprised at how well it turned out the one time we've used it so I'm going to gamble and try it again today.
 

I was at first tempted to ignore all the programs on my oven, but so far they work quite well.  The only ones I don't know if I'll ever use involve protein since I'm not sure if they'll not over cook it.

[Raamo]

Ok the waiting is over, it's very tasty, the crust is spot on just the way I like it.

 

And it was made in the 100% auto setting - I'm pretty darn happy with this oven.

 

Pics:

 

Edited March 5, 2014 by Raamo (log)