deck ovens

[devlin]

Having purchased my 30 quart Hobart mixer, I'm now in the market for a smallish deck oven for cakes and the like. I've never used a deck oven, so here are a couple of questions:

Should I try to find a Blodgett? Other recommendations?

Having only ever used the usual domestic oven, I'm unsure of the sorts of dimensions I should be looking for in terms of rack spacing for baking. What are the general rules of thumb in this regard?

[JeanneCake]

where are you installing it? At home? In a commercial kitchen?

Sometimes your options may be limited by where you are putting it - for example, in a home environment, you might have to go with an electric oven because an electric oven doesn't have to be vented; but a gas fired oven (regardless of convection, conventional, deck or otherwise) must be vented to the outside. Some local BOH will mandate no open flames in a particular kitchen - the local gourmet deli had this as a requirement but I never knew why (e.g., no burners, you have to use an induction top) and others have no such rule. So you might be looking at electric ovens rather than gas ovens; and at least where I am there are more used gas ovens than electric. A long time ago someone told me about the Deluxe company as a good source for a home-based operation - you can check them out here: Deluxe Ovens

I once asked the local repair company about which brands they had to service the most - they said Baker's Aid.

[devlin]

where are you installing it?  At home?  In a commercial kitchen? 

Sometimes your options may be limited by where you are putting it - for example, in a home environment, you might have to go with an electric oven because an electric oven doesn't have to be vented; but a gas fired oven (regardless of convection, conventional, deck or otherwise) must be vented to the outside.  Some local BOH will mandate no open flames in a particular kitchen - the local gourmet deli had this as a requirement but I never knew why (e.g., no burners, you have to use an induction top) and others have no such rule. So you might be looking at electric ovens rather than gas ovens; and at least where I am there are more used gas ovens than electric.  A  long time ago someone told me about the Deluxe company as a good source for a home-based operation - you can check them out here:  Deluxe Ovens

I once asked the local repair company about which brands they had to service the most - they said Baker's Aid.

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Jeanne, thanks for making me clarify a little further (I hadn't thought to do so). Yes, I'm looking for electric, not gas, and I'll be installing it in my home bakery. Thanks for the recommendation and the warning.

[alanamoana]

devlin,

are you sure you want a deck oven for cakes, etc? i would think that you'd want a convection oven since you have the wood burning oven for your breads...

if you decide on a convection which is great for cakes and cookies, try and get one where you can shut off the fan. that way, you have more versatility.

[devlin]

devlin,

are you sure you want a deck oven for cakes, etc?  i would think that you'd want a convection oven since you have the wood burning oven for your breads...

if you decide on a convection which is great for cakes and cookies, try and get one where you can shut off the fan.  that way, you have more versatility.

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Okay, now you've asked a question I'm not sure I can answer.

Here's what I need: an oven with capacity enough to bake many cakes at once. More than four. As many as eight to ten at once.

Edited July 4, 2006 by devlin (log)

[alanamoana]

oh...then maybe you do need a deck. most convection ovens can't really handle that many cakes too well...i'd say you could bake six at once efficiently. more than that and when it comes time to rotate cakes it could get messy. but even in a deck oven you'd have to shuffle them around front to back etc. and that could be a problem...

i'd also recommend if you bake in a deck oven to put overturned sheet pans on the bottom of the oven to give some insulation to the bottom of the oven. most decks have temperature controls for the top and floor of the oven, but usually the point of a deck oven is the nice hot stone floor for baking bread.

sorry if i've made it more confusing...the better decks that have more delicate temp controls, etc. are not usually american made. the europeans make great decks, but i don't know the name brands.

[devlin]

oh...then maybe you do need a deck.  most convection ovens can't really handle that many cakes too well...i'd say you could bake six at once efficiently.  more than that and when it comes time to rotate cakes it could get messy.  but even in a deck oven you'd have to shuffle them around front to back etc. and that could be a problem...

i'd also recommend if you bake in a deck oven to put overturned sheet pans on the bottom of the oven to give some insulation to the bottom of the oven.  most decks have temperature controls for the top and floor of the oven, but usually the point of a deck oven is the nice hot stone floor for baking bread.

sorry if i've made it more confusing...the better decks that have more delicate temp controls, etc. are not usually american made.  the europeans make great decks, but i don't know the name brands.

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I'm not sure anybody can make me more confused than I am generally about bakery equipment right now. It's all too new for me to even know how to ask very precise questions.

But so far, it seems to me a deck oven's the thing. I do cakes and cookies in addition to hearth breads, and although the cookies might fare okay in the brick oven, the cakes need a more controlled environment and my client base is growing a little faster than I'd expected. Which is good. But I'm going a little crazy trying to keep up.

[alanamoana]

i feel like cookies bake much better in a convection oven. but maybe that's just me. i'm used to working in restaurant kitchens and that's just what we have.

maybe you could find a stacked convection oven to use for cakes and cookies. especially if your client base is building, you could probably justify the cost.

convections can be found in electric and gas varieties...again, i would recommend that at least one of them have the option to turn the fan off if needed. mostly that doesn't matter, but i have had it happen with thin sponge-type cakes that the fan fluffs the batter before it sets and you have funky looking cakes (but this isn't always the case).

even with convection, you'll have to rotate your product during cooking as i've yet to find any oven that cooks totally evenly...

of course, if you buy a deck, if your bread production expands beyond the capacity of your wood burning oven, you can always do some loaves in the deck...

again, i'm creating more questions for you!

[Pam R]

For about 15 years I had a deck oven - 3 levels - and I was able to put 3 full sheet pans in each level. That thing was big. (I also had one convection, and two gas ranges)

Last year, we sold our building and moved - and left the deck oven at the old place. I was concerned about adapting to no deck. I now have only 2 convections, and two electric ranges . While I miss the gas ranges, I haven't really missed the deck. Depending on what I'm baking, I can get 10 full sheet pans going at a time - and it's sufficient for me. The two convect. take up a lot less space - and power than the deck.

Don't get me wrong - I loved the deck ovens. But I'm surviving quite well without them.

[devlin]

Well, you two are providing both useful (I think) and confusing info. When you say "convection," I automatically think of a domestic convection oven. Something about the size of my small GE electric oven in my kitchen (or, as I refer to it, "my g*#damned toy oven").

So when you use the term "convection," are you actually talking about some monstrous commercial thing? And can you refer me to a particular brand?

[Pam R]

So when you use the term "convection," are you actually talking about some monstrous commercial thing? And can you refer me to a particular brand?

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I wouldn't call them monstrous, but they're commercial .

I'm not an oven expert - and I've used a few brands - that all seem pretty much the same to me. When we bought a new one last year, we really shopped price - and ended up with a new Southbend. We got it from a used place - it had never been used before but had a small dent on the side. That dent saved lots of money.

The ones on that website are stacked. Here, I have one that's stacked with a proofer on the bottom, and one that's just on a stand (we use the base to stack sheet pans)

Each of our ovens can hold 5 full sheet pans - the racks are adjustable.

The two ovens I have now take up less floor-space than the deck oven I had before - and hold 10 pans rather than the 9 the deck held. And you can get them stacked, so they'd take even less room.

I hope this helps

[alanamoana]

blodgett, fox, wolf, viking...i'm pretty sure they all make commercial convection ovens. didn't mean to assume you'd know what i was talking about.

most convections as PamR mentioned hold at least five sheet pans on the adjustable racks. as i mentioned earlier, they can come in gas or electric some with options that allow you to turn off the fan while cooking.

here's a link with a picture of one type of convection oven. i hope it works. this web site has a bunch of commercial stuff and you can get a good idea of what is available.

Edited July 5, 2006 by alanamoana (log)

[Pam R]

one of mine doesn't allow you to turn the fan off - the other has two fan settings. High and low. The low isn't actually off, but it's not strong enough to blow things around (so that when I'm baking meringues I don't have to pipe things along the edges or place metal spoons on the sheet to keep the parchment from blowing into them).

[devlin]

Okay, fabulous. I finally have a clue!

That's exactly the sort of information I need.

Thanks so much to the both of you.