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A recipe that I am trying says that it's very important I follow the instructions to the letter. However, at one point it says "Each loaf should bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit in convection/steam oven for approximately 40 minutes or until the loaf reaches 155 degrees internal temperature."

However, I only have a Normal Oven, not a convection/steam oven. Can I still cook this recipe? Or, do I need to buy a new oven?

JJ Caldwell
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  • Is a covection oven a special kind of oven that only cooks with convection? Can you still bake with it? – James Slagel Dec 15 '10 at 02:00
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    @james slagel: A convection oven is one that contains a small fan that circulates the heated air throughout the oven, making for more uniform temperatures in all areas. It's a really nice feature for baking, eliminating the need to turn cookie sheets to get even browning, and also allows you to bake on multiple racks instead of just one. As far as I know, only electric ovens are available with this feature. – bikeboy389 Dec 16 '10 at 15:52

2 Answers2

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I like to use the 15% rule. To convert a recipe from convection to conventional:

  • Multiply the cook time by 1.15.

  • Multiply the heat by 1.15

For example, your recipe would become:

"Each loaf should bake at (300*1.15 = 345) degrees Fahrenheit in convection/steam oven for approximately (40*1.15=46) minutes or until the loaf reaches 155 degrees internal temperature."

You can convert back by multiplying by .85.

Naomi Campbell
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  • You'll notice the maths arent bang on for converting back. You'd have to multiply by (1÷1.15) = .869 . Anyways, I like the easy to remember 15% tip. – Mike Graf Jan 18 '14 at 17:57
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Wow. I wish I could buy a new oven.

What type of recipe is it? If it is important to have steam present, it must be a crusty loaf, although the temp is quite low for the promotion of a crust. Because of the temp, and the directions saying to bake 40 minutes, it probably does not really need steam (again, steam is only necessary for the crust). Normally, if you are baking a crusty bread, the steam is only present for a portion of the bake time (about ten minutes), and then all steam is evacuated.

Anyways, what I'm guessing is that the steam is not important, they are focused on the convection attribute of the oven. If that is the case, just knocck the temp up by 50 degrees, and you should be fine.

If steam is necessary, try boiling a pot of water on the stove top and adding it into the oven with the bread, and using a spray bottle to intermittently mist water into the oven (to ensure that there is some steam in the oven cavity). However, this is a poor man's solution, and doesn't work that great.

This is the best guess I can give.

mrwienerdog
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  • When I cook in a convection oven I lower the temperature 25 degrees from a regular oven (and things still cook faster). I'd only raise it 25 degrees in a normal oven as opposed to a convection recipe. – justkt Dec 15 '10 at 13:45
  • If things cook faster when you've only lowered the temp 25 degrees, then taking off another 25 would even it out even more. It's been a few years since I've used a convection oven, but in that pastry shop, I remember that our rule of thumb was 50. – mrwienerdog Dec 15 '10 at 15:16
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    rather than misting water into the oven with it's resultant heat loss for opening the door, you can just add some water to a shallow basin and place in the oven. I normally use my roasting pan but any pan will work. The heat form the oven will make sure you have steam the entire time, and you can adjust the surface area of the water to achieve more or less. – sarge_smith Dec 15 '10 at 16:27
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    I add ice cubes to a sheet pan when I am baking bread at the beginning and I add in a few more about half-way through. – Varuuknahl Dec 15 '10 at 16:30