Yay! New Oven at Work!

We have a lot of space issues at work (meaning we don't have enough), and this also extends to our ovens. We have two Blodgett deck ovens, which for one thing, are way older than I am. They are also very erratic in the heat department, and since they are deck ovens, they have way too much bottom heat (you usually see them in pizza places). We have to turn the pans around halfway through baking time on pretty much everything, and some stuff can only be baked in certain spots, or it comes out like crap. With the deck ovens, we have space for 16 sheet pans. This may seem like a lot, but it really isn't. We have been asking for new ovens for years.

Finally, earlier this year, the managers told us that they were looking into a convection oven for us (the deli recently got one of their own, as they're making hot foods now, and we didn't always have the space for them to use our ovens when they wanted to). I had never used a convection oven before, and neither had any of my coworkers. So I was hesitant, but it was a new oven, so I was more than willing to try it out. One of my managers had a lot of experience with it (she used to work in a restaurant), and she told me that most of my stuff would probably not be able to be baked in it (I do the breads and other yeast-based items). It would be mainly for pies and cookies, but this way, I wouldn't have to rush to get out of the way when the next bakers came in, which is partly why we wanted new ovens anyway.

It took awhile before they pinned down if and when we were getting the oven, but it finally came in 2 months ago. It took so long because they were refurbishing it. Unfortunately, it was missing parts that we needed, so we had to wait until this week for it to be put in. I didn't totally understand that part. Another problem was that it was not replacing one of our ovens, it was going next to the other ones, which added to the space problems that I mentioned before. We had to rejigger the bakery a lot, which I'm still having problems with, but the oven is totally worth it.

The Stove Shop guys put it in on Thursday night, so I got to be the first person to use it. My basic understanding of convection is that it bakes in less heat and less time than regular ovens, because of the fans that blow the hot air through the oven. This also causes everything to bake evenly as well. The first thing I baked was tea biscuits and scones, which were apparently on too high a temp because they came out too dark. I tried them again the next day on a lower temp, but it was almost the same. I'm giving it one more shot on Monday, and if it's not right, they'll go back to the deck ovens.

I put puff pastry in there next, and after finding out that I have to put the items in the four corners of the pan to keep the parchment paper from blowing over and fusing to the pastry, they came out really nice.

The items I really wanted to try were the danishes, which are yeast based. They were perfect when they came out! They even have more body than they did in the deck ovens. I also made some of the frozen rolls in there, and I'm not sure if I will do that, because they got more top heat than bottom heat, so there was no support, and they eventually got squashed in the bag because of this. I put some yeast breads in there too, and they were absolutely beautiful. I've had trouble with the loaf breads being more than done on top, but not on the sides, so they collapse under their own weight like the frozen rolls did. But these were the same color on all sides, and they maintained their shape, and remained nice and soft on the inside.

My coworkers are having some trouble with the cookies. The pies are coming out really nice, but they're having a lot of problems getting the cookies to come out. Usually they ask me for advice since I've been in the business a lot longer than they have, but I was kind of stymied this time. I'm in the same boat, I have to try it every which way to see what works.

All in all, it's worth it to me, being cramped in the bakery in exchange for the new oven. I am afraid that they are still going to have to wait for me to get out of the convection oven now, because it's awesome!