Convection and cookies

[CanadianBakin']

Having been an avid home baker for years rather than doing it for a living, I have little experience with convection ovens. My current problem is trying to bake large 3-1/2 oz cookies and getting them to cook evenly so they are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. This happens with most of the recipes I'm using which is why I'm thinking it's the oven, or my lack of experience with it, rather than the recipes. My recipes work at home in a conventional oven but not very well at work. After cooking them long enough so the centers aren't gooey, the outer 1/2 - 1" is crunchy. I have a 2 speed oven that I always keep on low simply because I don't know when to use high and what applications it is best for. I was wondering if this would be an issue at all. At the moment I have resigned myself to making smaller cookies until I can figure out how to get them right. Any ideas?

[Wendy DeBord]

It's just finding the right combo of time and temp., but you should be able to achieve your goals in a convection oven. Definately use the lower fan setting, you probably need to turn the heat down.

Are you comfortable and aware of how to adjust your baking in a convection oven?

This may sound strange, but it's true. When you use a convection oven you need to adjust your temp. down from what you'd normally set it at in a conventional oven. Like most of us, you probably bake the majority of your items at 350F (or there abouts). In a perfectly cabilbrated, brand new oven, working perfectly convection oven.........to achieve the same results as I do in a conventional oven- I set my dial 50 degrees lower then what I want. Due to the fan cirulating the air, items bake quicker, the air moving makes it hotter in your oven. In fact every oven is a little different (every perfectly calibrated oven).

The convection ovens I use on my current job I set the dial on 275F and that equals baking in a 350f oven. You will have to experiement with your particular ovens to find the right temp.. I started by dialing down 50 degrees as I suggested to you. I baked a couple items I'm very familar with and watched how they baked and how long they baked and realized it was still baking too hot, that's how I found 275F was my right temp. to equal 350F conventional.

Sooooo this is a bit confusing and not something that anyone tells you about the differences in oven types. The non pastry chefs I work with and the oven repairman don't understand this when I explain it. It's not that logical.....how can a calibrated oven temp. be off? The oven itself isn't off, that's just how it works. To bake to your best advantage you have to over ride what the dial says and use your best judgement by how your items bake. Sometimes it takes weeks of baking to find which degree equals your 350F, so you'll need to keep an eye more closely on your baking until your certain you've got it.

When you need a higher or lower setting then your 350F adjust your dial again according to your oven.....it doesn't matter what the dial says. As in my example, my oven for a 400F working temp. I set my dial on 325F.

The high fan setting is something I don't use alot. I mainly use it for items that I want a huge rise out of, like puff pastry or choux paste. You'll probably find that you need to ancor down your corners when you use the high fan setting or your parchment paper will fold over your items, ruining them.

[CanadianBakin']

Wendy, thanks for making sure I was aware of the basics. My understanding was that you either drop the temp by 30% or the time or a combination of both. I have been baking my cookies at 275F and I hesitate to go lower. I checked the oven with a thermometer today and it is spot on with the dial although like you said, this doesn't really matter. I guess I'll just have to keep playing although that may take a while because of course if I test with just one pan of cookies the timing will be different when I do several pans.

[aidensnd2]

The high fan setting is something I don't use alot. I mainly use it for items that I want a huge rise out of, like puff pastry or choux paste.

Interesting, I have always baked items that I want a big raise from with no fan. My thinking is that with the fan on the increased pressure on the item from the air in motion could possibly retard the rise or cause an uneven rise.

Have you done a comparison between no/lo/hi fan?

Thanks

Dan

[Wendy DeBord]

I haven't ever studied the fan setting specificly. I'm speaking from my own experiences with my product.

I look at the fan differently. I see it as a blast of heat that hurrys the moisture evaporation from the product....creating steam. The steam happens quicker with the fan on high, pushing the dough upward/outward, like a mini explosion.

[eatrustic]

If you're talking about a pro convection oven (vs a home convection) you are also probably making more than one or two trays of cookies (or other sweet items) at a time. In that case you would need a fan (lo setting for me as well) to ensure even baking.

At home it wouldn't matter as much because there are usually no more than one or two trays in the oven.

[mkfradin]

Getting away from the fan issue, you might want to experiment with baking the cookies frozen, refrigerated, room temp., flattened, rounded, etc. We have a convection oven with fans that can't be adjusted or turned off, and by playing with the cookies this way, changing temperatures as we go, we've managed to get nearly all of them relatively chewy with crisp edges consistently (the sugar cookie is the exception, but everyone seems to like them anyway!). Play around and see what you can come up with.

BTW, we bake all of our cookies between 325-375 degrees. 275 sounds really low; do your cookies spread at that temp.??

[kitchenmage]

Getting away from the fan issue, you might want to experiment with baking the cookies frozen, refrigerated, room temp., flattened, rounded, etc.  We have a convection oven with fans that can't be adjusted or turned off, and by playing with the cookies this way, changing temperatures as we go, we've managed to get nearly all of them relatively chewy with crisp edges consistently (the sugar cookie is the exception, but everyone seems to like them anyway!).  Play around and see what you can come up with.

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So, mkfradin, are you going to share your magic baking settings? Pretty please with a crispy-chewy cookie on top.

I know we'd all still have to tweak it for our own ovens, but I just got my first convection oven and I'm looking for general direction, hints, etc. Our new house has one; I didn't even notice it until we moved in because I was so entranced by the cabinets and counter space. (well, that and the resident elk herd across the road...)

[CanadianBakin']

Getting away from the fan issue, you might want to experiment with baking the cookies frozen, refrigerated, room temp., flattened, rounded, etc.  We have a convection oven with fans that can't be adjusted or turned off, and by playing with the cookies this way, changing temperatures as we go, we've managed to get nearly all of them relatively chewy with crisp edges consistently (the sugar cookie is the exception, but everyone seems to like them anyway!).  Play around and see what you can come up with.

BTW, we bake all of our cookies between 325-375 degrees.  275 sounds really low;  do your cookies spread at that temp.??

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How large are your cookies? I use a 4 oz disher. They do spread well, they're just way too crispy on the outside by the time I've got the center cooked. I've got the temp that low to try and get them to cook evenly. I just realized yesterday that flattening them would probably solve my problem. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

[mkfradin]

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So, mkfradin, are you going to share your magic baking settings? Pretty please with a crispy-chewy cookie on top.

I