January 17, 2013 - 11:19pm
convection oven and steaming
Hi,
I'm a novice baker from Korea. I'm planning on buying an electric convection oven. I'd like to know if it is safe to use the steaming method that calls for a cast iron skillet filled with lava rocks in an electric convection oven. I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could give an opinion or a thought about this. Thank you.
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Before you void a warranty, ask the manufacturer.
One of the keys here is how much electronics are in the oven. 500F steam bursts can be hard on digital circuits. I just asked my new range manufacturer (American) the same thing and they said OK but to put the cast iron on a lower rack, not on the floor of the oven. But, my range is all analog. So, write to your manufacturer.
Another approach is to get a combi cooker or cast iron dutch oven with lid. This emulates a brick oven and thus steam injection is not needed. the loaf can be misted with water and covered, after 15 minutes lid is removed and crust browning starts to kick in after a nice rise.
See Tartine cookbook by Chad Roberton, also type "dutch oven" in the search box upper left and you will see lots of postings on this technique. You may like this approach even better.
Cheers...
Sorry for the late reply. As richkaimd and pjkobulnicky suggested, I contacted the manufacturer to ask if it was to safe to use such steaming method in their oven, but they didn't respond to my email. As for the dutch oven Nickisafoodie mentioned, I just purchased a la cloche which is believed to create similar steam effects. Let's see how it goes. Thank you all for the help. I appreciate it.
If you use a dutch oven or a cloche, then there is no need for convection.
Paul