Steam ovens for bread 2024
I need to become an expert at making the New Orleans style poboy bread (Gambino bread), which is somewhat similar, in my opinion, to the Italian bread in Chicago. I'm looking for that thin crust with the cracks, but a soft inside (not at all like a true French baguette). I have heard that I might need a steam oven to accomplish this consistently.
With all the options available in 2024, what would you go for? I'm leaning toward getting a discontinued Cuisinart steam oven, the Panasonic steam oven, or the Anova. The reviews online seem to focus on steam cooking other kind of foods, and there isn't a lot of information pertaining to how well they perform with bread.
My ONLY reason for buying a steam oven would be for making poboy bread (hoagie sized loaves), so the size needs to accommodate that. I don't care anything about long baguettes, tall sourdough balls, or anything else.
Vietnamese rolls for banh mi sandwiches are pretty much the same, and you could read up on them - hard but yielding crust, soft fluffy interiors. Same for Sheboygan rolls. I don't think you need a steam oven as long as you can set up your current oven to generate a good burst of steam at the start of the bake.
You want to be careful about "steam" ovens. I'm not sure of the terminology but some kinds only get up to steam temperatures, not bread baking temperatures. Others can do steam cooking but also get up to baking and roasting temperatures.
I have read good things, in terms of bread baking, about the Anova but I don't have personal experience and you've probably read the same things I have.
I suggest that you develop your recipes and technique with your current oven. If you can't make rolls to your satisfaction after that, then consider an Anova or something similar.
You could get a copy of "The Banh Mi Handbook" by Andrea Nguyen. It's got a detailed recipe for banh mi rolls that might be a good starting point. I'll quote a bit from the book so you can see if you might be interested:
You could compare that with other recipes you've been looking at. Perhaps a combination of parts of each would end up being perfect.
TomP
sounds like you might want to bake a bunch of loaves at a time -- in which case the Anova might not be a great choice. I have baked fantastic loaves in the Anova. But one at a time. The only time I tried 2, they didn't rise well and the crusts were scorched on one side and not even crispy on the other.
Rob
I have the Panasonic, but have never used the pure steam mode for making bread, only for heating up some frozen food. The convection with steam mode works good for bread.