Breville Smart Oven Air

[ElsieD]

This product was recently advertised in a flyer from The Bay, a department store in Canada.  This oven has some new features, compared to previous Smart Ovens, mainly dehydrator and air fry functions.  It comes with two racks and an air fryer rack.  It also claims to be 30% larger than the Smart Oven Pro.  This oven got a passing mention on the Cuisinart Steam Oven topic, but I could not find any mention of it elsewhere on this site.  Does anyone here have one?

[Anna N]

I am guessing it it this?

Looks interesting but so far it isn't likely to push my current Breville off the counter. 

[dans]

I ran into a demo of this unit at a department store.  The person doing the demo was "from Breville" and she was cooking some thinly sliced veggies (potatoes, etc.). She opened the unit to show me what she was cooking and I noticed that is was very uneven.  The slices in the back of the oven where much darker than the ones in the front.  I decided against the "air" based on that and the fact that my question about how uneven of cooking was completely ignored. 

[ElsieD]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

I am guessing it it this?

Looks interesting but so far it isn't likely to push my current Breville off the counter. 

 

That's the one.

[palo]

Also in Canada:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Breville-BOV900BSS-Smart-Convection-Silver/dp/B01N5UPTZS/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1489366079&sr=1-3&keywords=breville+smart+oven

 

p

[ElsieD]

19 minutes ago, palo said:

Also in Canada:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Breville-BOV900BSS-Smart-Convection-Silver/dp/B01N5UPTZS/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1489366079&sr=1-3&keywords=breville+smart+oven

 

p

 

One of the few times that Amazon is more expensive than the department store.  In this case by almost $88.00.

[Anna N]

 Thought I would revive this thread since there seems to be some further interest in this oven s evidenced in the Air Fryer Topic here

 

 It’s expensive seems to be getting some extremely good reviews especially on the Amazon.ca site. 

 

Here’s a link to the instruction manual. 

 

 Edited to add

Now if only it had steam function.

 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Anna N
Added links (log)

[ElsieD]

I just made us some grilled cheese and ham sandwiches using the "Air Fryer" setting.  I often use it for these sandwiches  as I like my bread on these sandwiches nice and crunchy.  You may not.  Other than that, i have used the air fryer setting for frozen sweet potato fries and chicken wings.  The fries were fine, nice and crispy.  The wings were good too, although you have to move them around a bit.  That, as near as I can recall, is the total of my experience with this setting.  I did not use extra oil with either the fries or wings.

 

I dehydrated some tomatoes which seemed to work well.  They are in the freezer and have yet to use them so I can't comment further.

 

One thing I love about this oven is the proof function.  It works perfectly.  It has a slow cook feature which I haven't used, and has settings for both high and low.  Several of the functions work using "super convection".  Not sure what that means exactly, but the fan makes considerably more noise.  It also has an interior light that will go on when you open the oven door and stays on for 10 seconds after you close it.   

 

The one thing that is rather useless is the second rack for things like baking cookies.  The top rack browns, while the cookies on the bottom rack do not.  This is solved by switching the racks but on a 15 minute bake you need to do this more than once.  A but of a pain.

 

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this oven.  I rarely use the big oven but that was also true of the BSO.

 

This oven as with the BSO, still sucks at making toast.

Edited November 14, 2017 by ElsieD
Added picture of grilled ham and cheese (log)

[rotuts]

@ElsieD

 

many thanks for that.

 

would you tell us a little more on the proofing Function ?

 

is there enough moisture in the oven so  the top of the dough does not dry out 

 

and remains  '  springy ? '

 

how is he clean up on the basket etc when you ' sir fry ?'

 

er :cookies :

 

is the fan on while you bake so you get convection  currents ?

 

have you baked bread in this after you've proof'd it ?

 

many thanks

[rotuts]

@@ElsieD 

 

another thing :

 

how hot does it get

 

on average ?

 

i.e.:  

 

would I be safe  w this unit under a cabinet 

 

as my BV-Xl is now ?

 

 

[ElsieD]

@rotuts  the picture below shows you where my Breville sits.  I just pre-heated it to 325F and was able to quickly touch one side of the oven without burning myself.  The other side was hotter.  I have a cutting board on top of my Breville and have no problems with the cupboard above it.

 

I always cover my dough when proofing,  i have not thought to do so otherwise.  It is also what the manual recommends.  The temperature has been factory set at 85F, but can be adjusted to anywhere between 80 and 100.  I have checked the temperature with an oven thermometer and it is accurate.

 

The air fry basket  was easy to clean.  I just use soap and water, but then I haven't used that function much.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2017 by ElsieD
Added the word much. (log)

[ElsieD]

@rotuts  I forgot to answer the last question.  Yes, I bake bread in the Breville.  Here are a couple of pictures of the bread baked in it.  The first one is a harvest grains, the second brioche buns and the third some rather poorly shaped Kouign Amman.

[rotuts]

@ElsieD 

 

do you think you can put a small pan of very hot water under the bread for a few minutes in this oven for the

 

' boost '

 

or the metal might not tolerate this ?

[palo]

What are the inside dimemensions of this model compared to the 800xl?

 

p

[rotuts]

on Amazon :

 

Air :

 

1.0 cubic-foot, 16” x 13.5” x 7” cooking cavity. Large Capacity – Roast a 14lb turkey, 12 cup muffin tray, toast 9 slices, accommodate 5.5qt Dutch Oven and 13”x9” quarter sheet pan "

 

XL

 

Interior Dimensions: (W) 13¼ x (D) 11¼ x (H) 5¼

 

Pro is the same size it seems as the XL

 

 

[ElsieD]

There are recommended rack placements when using the Air.  The bake position is one up from the lowest position.  I just checked and you can put a 1/4 sheet pan between the lowest setting and the rack in the bake position.  You could aways pour some very hot water into it or preheat the sheet pan when preheating the oven and throw some ice cubes in there when the bread goes in.

[ElsieD]

On 2017-11-15 at 8:19 AM, rotuts said:

@ElsieD 

 

do you think you can put a small pan of very hot water under the bread for a few minutes in this oven for the

 

' boost '

 

or the metal might not tolerate this ?

 

I made some French dough in the bread machine and then shaped it into small baguettes.  I had put a quarter sheet pan on the bottom rack and let it heat up along with the oven.  When i put the bread in the oven, i put some ice cubes on the bottom pan.   I checked back 10 or so minutes later and was very impressed with the oven spring.  Thought you would like to know.

[mgaretz]

Did my first things is the Smart Oven Air.  Used the keep warm function - it worked like a champ.  Next day I made some roasted Brussels Sprouts using the Air Fry mode.  I followed Breville's guidelines for time and temp and they came out very good.  400F for 15 minutes.  The sprouts were cut in half then tossed in some EVO with salt and pepper.  Separately I fried up some homemade bacon lardons and mixed them at serving time.  Lastly I used the reheat function to reheat leftover chicken.  It also worked well.  I also used the top as a warmer tray to keep the sprouts warm while I reheated the chicken.

 

It's clear that "super convection" (air fry) mode does not have as much air velocity as the Philips Air Fryer, but in the case of Brussels Sprouts that's a good thing.  When I tried them in Philips, it was a disaster, blowing the inevitable leaves all over the place and getting them stuck in the internals.  I had leaves coming out (and burning) for 6 or more cooks.  No issue with that in the Breville.  We'll see how that affects other air frying recipes, but I suspect it will take a little longer to cook.  Having said that, you can crank the Breville temp up much higher than the Philips, so that may be a way to compensate.

 

 

 

 

[MSRadell]

We bought an Air last week and just started playing with it over the weekend. We haven't cooked anything exotic yet just some roast vegetables, tater tots and some fish. So far we really like it, we had a smart oven for a long time and bought this as a replacement.

　

We are definitely looking forward to trying more things in the future to see how the new functions work. We did Air Fry the tater tots more or less just playing around and they certainly came out great.

[mgaretz]

Yesterday I did a french fry test from raw potato with a 30 minute water soak.  I started with the same temps and timings as worked well in the Philips XL AirFryer.  As I predicted, the lower air velocity of the BSOA dictates longer cook times at the same temps.  In the XL I do fries for 5 minutes at 360F then 10 minutes at 390F.  Started out the same way in the BSOA.  (Side note, doing one setting and have it stop, then on to the second, repeats the pre-heat cycle for about 4 minutes - see below for a workaround.)  After the first cycle, I left the fries in during the pre-heat for the second cycle.  After 10 minutes at 400F the fries were cooked but not crispy so I let them go another 4 minutes.  So a total of about 18 minutes including the pre-heat.  They were definitely good, but still not quite crispy enough.  (I didn't have any problem finishing the bowl!)  Next time I will try a higher temperature for the second cycle, probably 450F.

 

 

Conclusions so far:  The XL is faster due to the increased air velocity, so that's a plus.  The BSOA wins in ease of cleanup (much easier and faster than the XL) and capacity. which is much larger than the XL.  So far the XL wins in terms of how the fries turned out, but I am assuming I will be able to get the BSOA to turn out the same quality with temperature and timing tweaks, so the jury is still out on this one.

 

Now the workaround to avoid the second pre-heat:  Instead of programming each cycle separately, just use one cycle for the total time.  When you want the temperature to change, simply change it and the oven will continue on.  It DOES have a "phase cook" setting where you can have it automatically go from one cycle to another, but it doesn't work with the Airfry mode and you can't invoke "super convection" in any other mode to trick it.  Oh well.

 

A last thing, the BSOA has a "rotate reminder" function that reminds you to rotate the racks if using more than one.  I used it to remind me to stir the fries.  The XL doesn't have this.

[mgaretz]

Was home for literally 12 hours and needed some quick starch to go with the SV steak.  So I pulled out some frozen Tater Tots to try in the BSOA.  In the Philips XL they came out good at 390f for 15 minutes, so I tried 425f for 15 minutes and they were perfect.

[ElsieD]

So the ones done in the BSOA were better than the ones done in the Phillips DL?  How you tried coming fries from scratch in the BSOA?

[mgaretz]

6 hours ago, ElsieD said:

So the ones done in the BSOA were better than the ones done in the Phillips DL?  How you tried coming fries from scratch in the BSOA?

 

I wouldn’t say they are better, but as good.  For made from scratch fries, see the post above.

[mgaretz]

Made some frozen shoestrings in the BSOA.  Tried 15 minutes at 450F and they were a bit over done.  Next time I will try 425F.

 

FYI I timed the pre-heat cycle for 450F and it was 5 minutes.

 

 

[mgaretz]

Fresh cut fries done in BSOA (shown with pork chop, cooked SV).  I cut the fries (1 medium russet) and soaked them in water for 30 minutes.  Dried and tossed with 1 tsp of olive oil and salt.  Preheated the BSOA to 400F and set the timer for 15 minutes (air fry mode).  After the preheat the fries went in.  At 5 minutes in I tossed them a bit and upped the temp to 450F.  I had the turn reminder on, which dings with about 6 minutes to go.  Tossed the fries a bit at that point.  They came out really good.

 

Earlier in the week I made some frozen tater tots.  Air fry mode at 425F for 15 minutes worked like charm.