Convection Confusion

[Wampa]

As part of my recent kitchen renovation, I got a convection oven; it's my first non-standard oven (and possibly the first one I've owned that has anything beyond a dial for bake/broil/off).

 

Where I'm particularly confused is it has both bake and roast functions (convection and traditional). I've been trying to figure out the difference between the two, and when to use each, but I can't find consistent information. Kitchenaid (the manufacturer) says that bake is for temps up to 375 and roast is for temps starting at 400. But I can bake at 450, so it isn't like there's an actual cutoff.

 

Help!

Edited April 2 by Wampa
Mod request (log)

[TdeV]

My GE Profile gas range also has Convection and Roast selections. Any selection in the Convection options will reduce the temperature you input by either 25ºF or 50ºF to "adjust" for the greater efficiency of a Convection oven. Sorry I don't remember if it's a drop of 25º or 50ºF because I don't ever use those options; if I want 350ºF then I input 350ºF.

 

You might note that online recipes often ALSO suggest a cooler oven when cooking convection.

 

HTH.

[blue_dolphin]

@Wampa, I have a KitchenAid electric double wall oven with similar features.  Mine have convection and traditional Bake and Broil and convection Roast (no traditional Roast as you have).

Per my manual and my particular ovens, the difference between Convection Bake and Convection Roast is the use of the upper heating element during cook time with the Roast setting but NOT with the Bake setting so you should choose based on whether you want heat from that upper element or not.  In general, you can use Bake with trays of cookies or cakes on multiple racks in the oven but when you're using Roast, you want to stick with one rack, usually in the middle of the oven.  If you use Roast with multiple racks, the stuff closer to the broil element is going to get a lot more heat and even rotating them isn't going to give you the most even bake. 

 

On convection bake, during preheat, the lower heating element (under the oven floor), the broil element and the rear element (behind the back wall of the oven, near the fan) all operate but once it's heated up, only the lower element and the rear fan element cycle to maintain temp during cook time.  No broiler element during convection baking. 

On convection roast, all three elements (lower, broil and rear fan elements) operate during preheat and all three cycle to maintain temp during the cooking time.  So there will be heat from the broiler element during convection roasting. 

 

I always use a convection setting during preheat as it will get to temp a lot faster and I use convection for most things.  If I'm worried about a baked item drying out due to the fan, I switch to traditional bake after it's up to temp. 

My ovens do not automatically reduce the temperatures when choosing Convection as @TdeV's does, though there is a "convection conversion" feature called "Easy Convect" on my ovens that's available to do that. I have never used it. 

I do always monitor the temp inside the oven with a digital thermometer probe (Thermoworks Dot or Square Dot).

Oddly, when using convection, the temp probe in the oven always reads about 25 °F HIGHER than the temp set and displayed on the oven panel so I do usually set the temp 25°F lower when using convection and check for doneness earlier.  I don't see that increased oven probe temp on traditional bake. 

In my oven, on traditional Bake, it will be hottest at the rear, opposite the door. On convection Bake, it will be hottest near the door, opposite the fan.  Either way, I rotate pans of cookies, etc. for even baking whether I'm using convection or not.  

 

Check your manual to see if this matches and monitor the temps in the oven with a good thermometer.  

 

 

 

Edited April 2 by blue_dolphin
to blather on more....🙃 (log)

[Wampa]

Thanks! I've been keeping a thermoworks probe in so far to make sure the calibration is good. I'll keep an eye out for the hot spots too.

 

The top down heat makes sense; I'll definitely be judicious in my use of roast until I have a better handle on it.

 

I definitely accidentally used the "easy convect" function the other day and had the temperature drop on me without realizing it. All this new-fangled technology....

[blue_dolphin]

On 4/2/2024 at 1:04 PM, Wampa said:

All this new-fangled technology....

 

@Wampa, if your oven is like mine, there are some nice features, too.  The bread-proof setting can be handy, though in mine, which has halogen lights, it can get a bit too hot if the light is left on.  The light alone warms it up pretty nicely. 

The other handy feature I've used is the dehydrator function. The temp can be set between 100°F and 200°F (38°C and 93°C). I won't be setting up a beef jerky factory any time soon but I've used it to make excellent onion powder and a few other things.  You can fit quite a lot of stuff on 3 full oven racks.  The downside is that you can only set it to run for 12 hrs so for stuff that needs more time, you need to choose a wise start time.  Anywhere between 6 and 11 is my preferred window but YMMV.

[Wampa]

@blue_dolphin Mine doesn't have a dehydrator function, at least that I've found yet, though that would be nice. I do have the bread proof. I do like the three racks. It feels pretty spacious for a 30".

[blue_dolphin]

33 minutes ago, Wampa said:

@blue_dolphin Mine doesn't have a dehydrator function, at least that I've found yet, though that would be nice. I do have the bread proof. I do like the three racks. It feels pretty spacious for a 30".

 

Must be a different model.  On mine, it's rather hidden.  For dehydrate, I press the "Options" button next to 0 on the numeric keypad, then press 5, choose the upper or lower oven and enter a temp between 100 and 200°F.

 

Oh, and I especially like the three racks.  I can fit a LOT of cast iron pans in the lower oven that I never use!

[JeanneCake]

In addition to the above, see if the fan speed is different. I have an old oven that has both Roast and Bake options and I wondered about the difference  myself until I set it to 350 Roast and noticed the fan was faster/higher speed than when set to 350 Bake.

[haresfur]

Convection ovens are ubiquitous here so almost all pre-pack food comes with conventional and fan-forced temperatures listed. Also our ovens have a heating element at the fan, are you saying yours do not? So there is a difference between fan-forced which uses that element and the fan and a different setting for just the lower element and a third for lower element plus fan but not the convection element. Gets very confusing what works best for various things. Also my Bosch oven manual encourages not preheating for many things as energy saving, just start timing when it reaches temperature. I find that works pretty well, except for baking. For my brownie baking project, I found that I had to reduce the temperature about 15 degrees C but that could be due to other differences.

[Wampa]

On 4/5/2024 at 9:01 PM, blue_dolphin said:

 

Must be a different model.  On mine, it's rather hidden.  For dehydrate, I press the "Options" button next to 0 on the numeric keypad, then press 5, choose the upper or lower oven and enter a temp between 100 and 200°F.

 

Oh, and I especially like the three racks.  I can fit a LOT of cast iron pans in the lower oven that I never use!

I went through the options menu. No go sadly. On the other hand, the convect roast did a real nice job with some chicken cutlets last night. Also noticed that with the convect roast it doesn't say anything about preheating.

[blue_dolphin]

On 4/5/2024 at 6:41 PM, haresfur said:

Also our ovens have a heating element at the fan, are you saying yours do not?

 

My electric wall ovens use the third heating element behind the back wall of the oven, near the fan, during cooking for all convection settings.  Once the oven is turned off, the fan will continue to run for a bit without the element on, which I assumed was to prevent that area behind the oven from building up excess residual heat. 

My understanding is that there are some inexpensive "convection" ovens sold in the US that just have a fan but no third element. I haven't run across one but I've seen articles that say to look for "true convection" or "third element convection" or "European convection" to make sure to get that functionality.