The Fresh Loaf

News & Information for Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts

steaming spritzing in convection oven

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qahtan's picture

steaming spritzing in convection oven

What is the point of steaming or spritzing in a convection oven,
convection is a fan that blows hot air around the oven, hot air dries any steam that is in there quickly.

Am I missing some thing here?????, If I were to steam, I would turn
off the convection.
I never convect baked goods, breads, cakes etc. qahtan

mcs's picture

Some convections (like mine) don't have a fan shut off option, so I have different work-arounds to deal with the steaming issue. 
The advantage of having the fan on while baking breads and pastries, is the ovenspring happens much more quickly than without it, and of course the heat is more even resulting in even color and less (not none) hot spots.  The disadvantage is the bread dries out more quickly before full oven spring making blowouts more likely. 
I've tried steaming with the oven off (so the fan is off) in a preheated oven, but the dough has a tough time recovering to full bloom.  For me, the best is the same as most people use in a standard oven - water thrown on a cast iron griddle when I load the loaves in.  Although it looks like the water disappears instantly, I put enough so it takes about 5 minutes to evaporate from the griddle.  During this time period,  it's still humid - you just can't see it.  Watch out for steam burns if you open the door!



SylviaH's picture

I have double ovens.  The top oven is convection and the bottom is a regular oven.  The Convection oven has a choice to bake convection or just bake...I thought all convection ovens had this feature...I don't like the risk of getting water on my I will use the convection because I love the even heat...and steam under a large lid on the stone with a steam gun..seems to work pretty good.  I just am not good at throwing water into an iron pan...I always get drips!

I have spritzed the walls and the steam stays in the oven on convection because you can see it on the glass window and when you open the door it will hit you in the face on my oven!  I prefer this method if Im not useing my steam/cover.