I have recently updated my home oven at home, switching to a model with more bells and whistles. While many decorated functions remain a mystery (delayed start) or have been tested and are now avoided (test mode), there is a qualification that I have grown to love: convection mode. That's why.
Jenn Bakos
Does what does convection do?
In convection mode, a small fan in the back of the oven moves the hot air, circulating it evenly throughout the oven. In contrast to the standard baking setting, when the oven is placed in convection, the warm air is constantly moving, providing more even heat.
Why is it better? Even heat gives a more durable baking. Think about it as the baker version of the Sous Video cooking method. In convection mode, the hot air circulating (similar to the hot water circulating in the sous video) warms my ripening on all sides. so biscuits brown evenly, crust fresh the most beautiful, and Tooth It rises to higher altitudes.
Here's how the difference plays in my house: in my old gas oven, which had a heating element located at the bottom, a tray with rolls or bundles on a bottom rack would coffee very well (very well!) At the end, closer to the heat source, while the tops came out more like beach bodies on the first day of summer. Blech.
My new oven has a heating element at the bottom as well, but it also has this fan in the back of the oven, which circulates the warm air around everything I am baking, ensuring that everything has a healthier glow. My rolls are ripened on all sides, rather than just at the bottom, getting better colors in general.
Photographs by Rick Holbrook; Food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
More than just good images
Beyond improved images, convection mode also improves structure. In my old oven, in order to get the color I wanted in my AROUNDI had to last baking times or even use broiler. While those ways can get the color I want, a longer baking meant things like cardamom AND flip Often had a drier structure, more cotton; At the time they were a deep golden coffee, the interior was overloaded. With convection, I get the golden brown color I want while preserving moisture on the inside.
What about the use of convection to bake sour bread?
In the past, I have never used convection for my Hearth. I still keep it when I am “open baking” – in other words, when I am baking my bread on a predetermined baking stone, and adding steam to improve the crust and support the best possible lift. For that method, I do not use convection because the moving air left the crust, drying it and placing the bread prematurely.
But for bread I bake in my covered ovens, I'm singing another tune.
When I used the traditional baking setting, I often found myself becoming shaking Dutch ovensSolving hot spots problems as a game of whats whats-a-mole and trying to ensure that my breads were not very darkened in the end.
While the convection determination has not completely resolved this issue, I find that I change less, and I can cut my heating time, as the covered ovens are heated faster with circulating heat.
Photographs by Rick Holbrook; Styling by Kaitlin Wayne
What about the pizza?
If you were going to ask me about using pizza convection even six months ago, I would have done a bad face – like, isn't this a brownies environment? But today, in the final stages of writing a pizza book with my colleagues here in King Arthur, I will admit that I am in love with using pizza convection. Heat heat circulates moisture away from toppings and cooking cheese, improving coloring and just baking things faster. My pizza is better, and is especially obvious with Pana styles like Detroiti, GrandmothersAND Pizza bar south shorewhich are loaded with toppings and benefit from increased fragility.
And, as a bonus, if it warms it with convection mode, it reduces the amount of time for the furnace to heat up. Less time = pizza faster. I'm winning.
Photographs by Rick Holbrook; Food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
So the convection is better for everything, right?
Not enough.
In some ovens, especially those with higher fans power, the fan can be very powerful. If this is the case in your oven, be careful with exquisite attackers such as cakes or liquid cakes, which can swell around. Occasionally, the power of the fan can also disturb the parchment paper, looking for small weights or clips to keep it in place. Beyond the clips, when baking small bundles, setting a cookie, for example, in each corner of the parchment can also help to keep things in place.
Another consideration has to do with my favorite aspect of using convection: browning. As I have discussed, the fan supports great browning through air movement and heat distribution. But sometimes it's a little better: it can mean things ripen faster. To address this, conventional wisdom has always been to reduce the heat of your oven by 25 ° F to 50 ° F when using convection mode for a recipe that requires standard baking. My experience is that 25 ° less is about most things. And, as with all baking, convection or standard baking, I still rotate and control regularly, especially when changing a baking or temperature way.
So the convection mode? Yes, I'm a fan. A big fan. And I'm thinking you'll be a lot after you try it.
Photo covered by Rick Holbrook; Food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.
