Let's talk CONVECTION cooking

[paulg]

I'm looking for opinions of those who use the convection mode in standard ovens.
Question: Can you please tell me what benefit YOU derive from the convection feature.
I am not looking for the sales hype as to what convection is SUPPOSED to do for you, but rather what is YOUR final experience using the convection mode in a conventional oven.

Here is where my background makes this question weird. You would THINK that with my background I would know the answer to my own question, but I don't.
OK, we own (and absolutely love) our double Jenn-Air wall oven, each oven with the convection feature. Oven works perfectly but we cannot seem to "get" the real and perhaps perceived grand benefit from the convection feature.

For 16 years prior I have worked at a minor player in the home range market and had to technically support convection ranges and convection microwaves. I know how they work, I know how they don't ... but their impact on the finished product (ex: baked goods) really escapes me. Maybe a little faster, maybe a little browner... but is that all? Am I missing something?

In addition to our Jenn-Air double oven, we do have a microwave-convection oven combo as well (SHARP R-930 countertop unit). THAT convection mode is one where I see definite value. I can use the unit well, thru the mix/combo settings and get so much benefit that I would never go back to a conventional microwave. Bear in mind that microwave ovens are well known for being lacking in finished cooking product "beauty" that addition of the convection mode in a microwave oven will for many people (including me) provide immediate improvement of cooking results.

However, when you start with a conventional oven, then blow the air around, the results to me are not dramatic.
How do you use your convection feature and what true benefit have you derived from it?

Thanks for your input(s)!

 

[petek]

I like it because I don't preheat the oven. I just put food in, set the temp and turn it on. And for baking bread and cookies on two or three racks as opposed to one. That's where I find the time savings and perhaps a little bit of energy savings.

 

[logixx]

Convection versus convection

On the previous oven that I used, I could select between European Convection (3rd element heating the air) or regular convection (top and hidden bottom element heating plus fan). True aka European Convection allowed for three levels to be cooked at once with flawless results; regular convection would brown on the lowest too much from below and too much from the top on the highest level. So in that regard, I couldn't see much benefit from adding a fan to the standard top and bottom element heating mode. One can turn down the heat by some degrees, yes.

For me, only 3rd element convection offers a real benefit. It also heated up faster. Our current oven has no fan, while the speed oven has Euro convection. I prefer using the speed oven for baking (and would use it all the time it it were larger than one cu.ft.).

 

[petek]

My old Kitchenaid stove has the 3rd element around the fan.. It bakes pretty good with 3 racks.

 

[whirlcool]

We have a 2008 Maytag stove and the oven is a convection oven. I don't know how many burners it has because you can't see them.

Convection ovens work best on things that have lots of exposure to the air of the oven. For example, baking cookies or biscuits would be fine in a convection oven.
Roasting a turkey in a roaster would not be a good idea. Unless the roaster didn't have a lid.

Remember when using convection to bake something always reduce the heat by 25F degrees. Our oven is set to do that automatically. When we set it at 375F and the Convection option is selected a thermometer will indicate the oven is at 350F when preheated. Also the fan that makes the convection oven what it is won't start turning until the target temp is reached. Then it turns on. The manual always indicates to preheat properly before cooking in the oven on Convection mode.

We find that cakes and biscuits rise a lot higher using convection. And they seem lighter too. And of course it speeds up the cooking time slightly. If something would bake in 15 minutes in a conventional oven, it may take 11-12 min in Convection mode.

 

[countryguy]

I have a Kenmore stove with convention (including the 3rd element on the back wall of the oven. I use convection all the time unless I am using a dish with a lid on it...in that case convection would be of no use. The oven has 2 settings - convection bake (which sets the temperature 25 degrees lower than what is selected and uses the top/bottom elements) and convection roast (where the minimum temp. that can be set is 325 and uses the element on the back oven wall). I use convection roast when cooking turkey and roasts....I find it browns the meat quickly and seals the juices in. I use convection bake for all my baking and for pizza. I can bake 3 cookie sheets or 3 muffin pans at the same time. Cakes/muffins/loafs do not split open on the top.

Gary

 

[mattl]

I like and use mine, but it is not the be all and end all that is claimed.  I use when baking bread, I do not use bread pans but make a free standing loaf.  With convection it browns evenly and bakes a bit faster.  With cookies as long as you use a rimless pan it's great, a cookie sheet with sides defeats the purpose for me.

 

Then we get to turkey.  I get a beautiful evenly browned turkey from mine.  I use an open rack and a low rimmed pan below.  My manual states to put the turkey in a cold oven, I insert the probe and set it for an internal temp of 160.  In 2 1/2 hour s or so I have a nice 14lb roast turkey --unstuffed.

 

[jamiel]

I always understood that unless you were baking something for longer than 15 minutes that convection was useless...i.e. I never bother with cookies/biscuits/pizzas. I always bother when I'm roasting vegetables (figure it's good to dehydrate edges to allow good browning) and since I don't often roast joints, don't think to use it in that case. I have a roughly 15 year old Thermador slide-in.

 

[toploader55]

For what it's worth...

When I started using Commercial Ovens back in the 70s, we were told to reduce the temperature when the fan is on by 50 degrees.

So, 375 F with the fan on the temperature should be set at 325 F.

This summer at the restaurant I ran out of Conventional Oven Space while baking.

I baked the Pecan Pies in a 275 F Oven with the fan on Low for 45-50 minutes and they came out beautiful.

And Yes joelippard, they are your recipe. Everyone asks where I got that recipe and I tell them "it's Joe's." They ask "Joe who ?" and I say "Joelippard from North Carolina." Then they say "Who ?" And I say "Joe with the 1-18s". Then they say "What ?" and I say "Nevermind".

 

[iheartmaytag]

Love mine

I bake a lot of cookies for the kids school, and now for the spoiled people at work.  

I am able to bake an entire batch of cookies, four racks/sheets, at a time.  I do have to increase the baking time a tad, sometimes as much as five minutes, but every cookie at every level comes out perfect. 

 

As for roasting hams and turkeys you get a nice crips skin and a moist interior as the heated air seals the outside.  

 

I once baked 12 apple pies at one time, all came out perfect.  But for the most part I don't usually do cakes on convection as it tends to dry the tops and as mentioned sometimes cracks.  

 

My oven automatically decreases the set temp by 25 degrees when convection mode is selected.  You also still need to watch the dark metal and glass cookware as well as this will have an effect on your results same as when cooking conventionally.

 

This is now the second range I have purchased with convection, the first was a Maytag which did not have a "true" convection third element, and now my GE that does.   I am/was very happy with the results from both.  Though I do believe the Maytag did a slightly better job browning bread, I attribute that effect more to the exposed vs the hidden element.

 

 

[revvinkevin]

Another turkey of a story

 

 

A few years back I had a gas Kitchenaid slide-in range with convection and I roasted a 17lb turkey for Thanksgiving.   The directions on the turkey said for this weight, it would take 6 1/2 - 7 hours to cook in a regular oven.    

 

I inserted the temp probe in the turkey, set the desired internal temp, oven temp, convection mode and we were off and roasting.    Once it was done, instead of 6 1/2 - 7 hours, it was done in 4!

 

I now have a 27" Miele wall oven and as the oven is warming up, the convection fan is on until it reaches temp, regardless of what "mode" is set.   Once the temp is reached, the fan turns off if it's not a convection mode.  Convection is great when baking multiple sheets of cookies, pies or biscuits at the same time, but cakes... not so much.

 

Kevin

 

[yogitunes]

I have a Dacor Duel-Fuel Convection Air stove/oven, the cooktop and broiler are gas, the oven is electric....honesty, I rather have it ALL gas......you have the option of Convection-Bake, or Pure-Convection......

it has a small oven for its size, but does have three racks, this is great for cookies, cupcakes and regular cakes....and QUICK!......

I don't go out of my way with special pans, the instructions mention to cook as usual, auto-temp decrease is preset.....

when doing a Turkey, usually 25-30lb...unstuffed, set at 400, and every thirty minutes I rotate with the cover on, and with it off.....2 1/2 hours, it's done!....perfect results everytime......

I have the matching Micro/Convection/Hood......it has a double rotating rack, which is great for the side dishes and rolls....

when these finally bite the dust, I want the same set-up again, all Gas stove, but not a Dacor!....

 

[whirlcool]

Now here is a question for you guys.

I have heard that when you cook in glass (like pyrex, corningware, etc.) you are supposed to lower the temp of the oven by 25F to account for the glass cookware.

You are also supposed to lower the temp by 25F if you are convection cooking (most ovens it seems do this automatically).

So what happens when you are cooking something in glass in a convection oven? Do you lower the temp by 50F?

 

[perc-o-prince]

Kevin- 6.5 - 7 hrs for a 17# bird? At a straight 350F it should only be about 4.25 - 4.5. I do a 20-21 pounder in about 5.5 hrs.

I've never used convection, so the results being posted are interesting! Didn't/don't they sell some kind of wind-up fan, reminiscent of the micro-go-round, that would simulate convection in a conventional oven?

Chuck

 

[iheartmaytag]

Allen

I think one 25 degree deduction is enough.  

I believe the reason is glass and dark metal are better conductors, or at least hold the heat longer so this is why you lower the temp.

As for convection cooking, the moving air strips away the cooler surrounding air and allows faster cooking, but the lower temp is not commutative.

 

[passatdoc]

Frigidaire gas convection range and Breville countertop oven

FRIGIDAIRE GAS RANGE

I have a 2001 Frigidaire gas range with "Speed Bake" convection. This was the less costly of Frigidaire's two convection options at the time, and has a fan without a heating element around the fan. The more expensive option was known as "True Convection" which had a heating element around the fan. Both gas models needed only a gas pipe and a 110V outlet.

Advantages:

1. Oven heats up faster

2. Even cooking when all racks in use (e.g. three jelly pan roll pans on each of three racks). I can bake two pies on each rack and bake four pies total at once and everything comes out nice and evenly bakes, regardless of whether a given sector of crust was

3. For baking, I can reduce temp by 20-25 F and reduce cooking time by 5-10 minutes per hour. Banana bread done in 53 mins vs. one hour, that kind of thing. Modest savings of energy as a result.

Cons: 1. $100 extra cost over non-convection model. 2. Not for use with yeast breads, has something to do with the bread not rising properly or else the crust getting overly dry, but baking yeast bread is the one activity for which I do not use convection. 3. Downward adjustments for time and temp must be done manually; this model does not "auto convert" time/temp recipes for you. However, I'd been watching friends in Europe do this for years, so I was familiar with the process.

BREVILLE SMART OVEN http://www.brevilleusa.com/the-smart-oven-r.html

Bought this after finding a long-lost $150 gift card for Williams-Sonoma, they had this on sale, and I needed a new toaster anyway. I was tired of heating up the big range oven for small jobs and thought this oven would be faster and more energy-conscious when the big oven wasn't needed. W-S had a rare sale on it ($225 vs the usual $250), so I paid the $75 gap plus sales tax on the $225. Even Amazon sells it for $250, Breville is very rarely discounted, and even then only by higher end retailers like W-S.

1. Advantages: heats up very quickly, you can put the food into a cold oven, it preheats, then cooks for the time you prescribe after the preheating is completed

2. True convection oven

3. Has a large enough footprint that standard sized pans (13 x 9 inch) can be used, so no need to buy miniature toaster oven cookware. Also found a Granite Ware 13 x 9 roasting pan with cover with handles on the sides, rather than on top, so that it clears the heating elements. I can bake a 10" pie or two standard large loaves of bread or quick bread. For baking a spare last minute pie during holiday seasons, this can't be beat, it bakes as well as full size ovens.

4. Does anything: defrosts, broils, toasts, warms, reheats, does pizza, roasts, bakes.

5. Makes dinner for two (meat, veggies) easily. Can make dinner for four, at least it can roast chicken for four and possible some veggies too. For empty nesters or singles, this sure beats using a full size oven, but it's no rinky dink toaster oven.

Cons: none.

 

[passatdoc]

@whirlcool

Allan, I bake bread in both the range and the Breville using Pyrex bread loaf pans. I also make quick breads and pies using Pyrex. I have always had great results without a temp deduction. I do knock off 20-25F when convection is used.

 

[appnut]

I too have a Breville Smart oven as Jim has.  And I underscore all his comments about it.  It actually is used 98% of the time for myself.  I use convection on it for just about all baking and roasting, including pound cakes.  It even handles my Corning Ware 5 qt. and 4.5 qt. casserole dishes when I make huge batches of whole wheat pasta casseroles for lunches to freeze.  I love the crunchy tops they get with convection.  I've had it for just slightly less than a year than when Breville introduced this to the U.S. market, I guess about 4 or 5 years.  Up until this past August when I began doing baking for recruiting days due to budget cuts, I venture to guess I only used my regular oven about 4 or 5 times a year. 

 

[zipdang]

The convection feature comes in handy for several reasons.

First, as has been mentioned above, foods that cook for a long time can go in without preheating the oven as the convection keeps the hot air circulating to warm up the refrigerated or frozen food.

Second, the circulating hot air makes it simple to bake multiple racks of cookies, breads, etc. at the same time. The oven temp is more consistent from top to bottom than without the forced air circulation.

Lastly, my oven is a large 36" gas model and the convection makes for a more even heat than with just the oven burner alone. With the fan running I doubt the oven cavity would be the same temperature from front to back, top to bottom, and side to side.

I have not been able to realize the purported benefits of shorter cooking times and/or using lower cooking temperatures. I cook everything at its normal temp and for its normal time, but the convection just makes it come out better.

 

[lordkenmore]

It's been years since I used convection, and I never really had the chance to make the best comparisons.

That said, convection was more or less what I grew up with. My mother bought a Farberware tabletop convection oven ca. 1980 to replace a wall oven that had A)broken B)wasn't repairable (according to the repairman--this was before the Internet, and AW.org, of course!) and C)apparently had a dimension no longer supported. While the Farberware was an "easy fix", my mother grew to really like it, and said that she'd never go back to standard ovens again. Two points that interest me: the failed wall oven was probably pretty good (and my mother said years later that it had been in some ways the best oven she'd had to that point). Point #2: she wasn't much of a baker. She baked, but wasn't much of an enthusiast. She could keep a supply of cookies around, etc, but she wasn't like some people here who live in the kitchen.

When I first started baking, I used that Farberware, dropping the temperature 25 degrees IIRC. It seemed to work OK, but I had no standard for comparison, until the early 1990s, when I lived with a conventional range that had horrible ovens. I adapted--I had to--but it was painful, and I missed the Farberware.

Although I have to say that recent ovens I've used have been OK. But then most of my baking in recent years has been breads. Although I would be interested to try convection again.

 

[chachp]

I also have the Jenn Air Double Ovens

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I use convection for just about everything I cook with the exception of Pizza.  I like a really hot oven for the pizza and find that sometimes the cheese browns before the crust is done to my liking.  I love the way Poultry and Meat come out though.  Always nice and juicy given how the convection oven sears the meat.</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I have always followed the rule of drop by 25 degrees when using convection vs. conventional.  I had a Kitchen Aid oven in Chicago that would convert recipes for you from Conventional to Convection and I believe it usually dropped it by 25 degrees.</span>

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I wonder if the 50 degree example is for a commercial type convection oven that I would think would be more powerful than a home model?  I have never cooked in a commercial unit so I don't know if they are more powerful but it seems they would be.</span>

 

[gizmo]

I have a Modern Maid gas stove from 1986.
(Australian Modern Maid, no relation to the US brand of the same name.)

Its oven it calls "Fan Forced" not convection. I generally use the fan when baking on more than one shelf, or when hurrying along something that is browning too slow for me.

I actually think fan forced is a better name - the word "convection" actually refers to the natural phenomenon where warmer air rises and cooler air sinks to replace it. So a conventional oven with a burner or element at the bottom, where the air slowly rises as it is heated, and forms a natural current of rising when heated and sinking again as it loses heat, is actually a true "convection" oven.
Using a fan to increase air circulation and make the heat more evenly distributed is NOT convection, that is fan forced or fan assisted. Calling a fan assisted oven "convection" is just marketing.....but that is just me being a pedant.

 

[DADoES]

 
My GE Profile has both convection modes.  Labeled as "1-Rack" (conventional element with fan) and "Multi-Rack" (fan with 3rd surround element).

It reduces the temp by 25°F, although for some items less than approx 20 mins I find that I need to add a little time to compensate, or in some cases I bypass the temp reduction.

I routinely use "Multi-Rack" for cookies, pizza, biscuits, muffins, baked chicken breast ... largely everything except cakes, brownies, and cheesecakes, which I do on conventional non-convection mode.

Yesterday I baked a box cake in a 13"x9" metal pan on "1-Rack" mode. The top was more crusty than usual and did crack a little.

 

[passatdoc]

@appnut

No wonder the Breville Smart Oven is the #1 seller (though highest priced) among convection ovens at Amazon. I've had mine about 3-4 years now and, as you wrote, I use the big range oven once a month at most. My only concern is reliability, if the electronic controls ever go out, it would likely be an expensive repair, assuming it could be repaired. Your five year track record is a good indicator of reliability. When reading reviews on AMazon (the Breville has 2000+ reviews), you can sort the list to view Oldest First, but you don't know if people who reviewed the oven in 2008 or 2009 still own the same working oven....and new reviews are usually written by new owners. So it's not so easy to find a review from a five year owner like you.

 

[chachp]

Breville Products

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I have a couple of Breville products and I am very pleased with them.  As a matter of fact two of them (Bread maker and Coffee Grinder) had issues and they replaced them free of charge within what I think was a three year warranty.  I didn't have to do all that nonsense of sending it in for repair and waiting for it to come back, etc.  They sent me a new one.  I put the old one in the box and sent it back.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I remember the women telling me if it was out of warranty I could buy the newer version of whatever it is at a fraction of the retail price.  </span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I don't think you can beat service like that. </span>

 

[paulg]

AHA ! I am seeing the light

Thanks for all your posts!
Baking multiple items, or many racks of items is something that is rarely done in this household... unfortunately. That is the first thing I overlooked.
Now it makes sense to use convection in those instances, as well as the other times as everyone shared.
It should have dawned on me though. I have a bunch of extra racks sitting in the basement for this oven, which are never used. Should I have an event to fill this oven to the brim, I'll pop on the convection mode.
Thanks too for the tips regarding increase of speed, especially for turkeys!
Timing of turkeys is usually a critical item for the host. It can be unnerving to have the fowl done early so it is a good thing to be aware of differences in convection timing.
Much obliged to all!

 

[appnut]

@jim

Jim, Fortunately/unfortunately when it does bite the dust, I'll just recycle it when the times around her allow for stuff like this to be "dumped'.  I find that if I don't use it every day or so, the display begins to get dimmer.  I don't leave it plugged in in between uses, as manual suggests.  So the initial plug-in display can be dim.  There was a time where I didn't use it for a couple of weeks and it took 4 or 5 days of usual use before the display got back to normal.  I don't make toast every day and cooking/freezing in volume, sometimes all I need is a microwave to defrost and reheat what's in the freezer.  I chose this simply because I wanted/needed a 2nd oven and this was the closest I'd get to having one without buying a new range. 

 

[super32]

One other use of convection

I like many others here do use our convection functions. I have to side with the few that stick with the same temp and usually the same time, maybe a little less time. The other big use we have found is for reheating certain leftovers. Foods that are crisp, often get soggy in the micro. We found using the convection to be a great way to reheat those foods and maintain their crispness.

 

[passatdoc]

@super 32: agree re: crispy reheating

@appnut: I leave mine plugged in all the time. Is this against manual advise? On Amazon, there are a few negative reviews about ovens that broke down soon after purchase, but > 90% of reviews are five stars. This appliance is so useful that even if it lasted only five years, I'd replace it with another.

Choice of retailer was sort of slam dunk for me, since I found a long-lost gift card for W-S in a drawer, and luckily they were having a rare price reduction, down to $225. Also, I knew that if it broke within warranty, W-S would take it back at the store (no postage) and give me a new one.

Given the Miele-like price control that Breville seems to enjoy, it wouldn't matter where one purchased it. They all charge $250, and though Amazon would bring it to my door postage-free, everyone would charge California sales tax on it (over $20). At the time I purchased (I think four years ago but I don't know for sure since I bought in-store and did not save receipt), Amazon did not yet charge sales tax, and they would have shipped it free of charge using slow Super Saver shipping (no Prime back then). However, it was still less expensive using the $150 gift card, plus no shipping since I bought it at the local mall.

 

[mayguy]

I have a Maytag gas convention, fan only, and love it for the mosts part. Overall, I use it all the time on open cooking.

I brought myself a half rack, so nice to have a 3rd rack, and have a half of one when needed. Did a ham for one Christmas, and mom couldn't get over how perfect it was.

The only thing I am not happy abotu it, when I use my large baking sheets (almost covers the whole rack) to bake cookies, the cookies on the corner ends of the pan gets too done, so I have to spin the pan.