So I Bought A Convection Oven: How do I use It To Bake Better?
Many of our customers have recently upgraded their range and now own an oven that not only bakes like their old one, but has the added advantage of "convection" cooking. Consumers can be intimidated by trying to understand a feature they have never used, thinking it's difficult to operate or that they will ruin their food by overbaking. Convection cooking is easy to understand and even easier to use to improve your baking results as long as you know a few simple tricks.
What Is Convection and How Does it Make My Food Taste Better?
A convection oven circulates hot air with a fan. True convection also adds a heat element behind the fan to help make the whole oven uniformly hot. Unlike conventional ovens, convection ovens have a fan that continuously circulates air through the oven cavity. Hot air circulating through your oven cooks food more evenly, at lower temperatures, and often with better and faster results.
Ever put your hand out of the car window on a cold, cold day? Your hand almost instantly feels frozen because the speed of the cold air accelerates the heat loss from your hand. The accelerated, hot air spinning out of your convection fan operates the same way, but with heated air: It increases the heat applied to your food (heating faster, crisping and browning better).
It not only allows you to bake better, it allows you to use the whole oven to bake more and save time. For example, in a traditional bake oven, you would bake cookies, one rack at a time, sometimes taking them out midway and turning the baking sheet to ensure they bake and brown evenly. With convection, the whole oven tends to be uniformly hot top to bottom and front to back. Simply put, you now can bake 3 racks at once without taking them out midway and turning the baking sheet thus saving time and improving results. Likewise, expect roasts to be done in less time (as much as 25% less) with crisper and juicier results thanks to the covection features of your new oven.
Guidelines and Tips for Using Convection
What's the only way to get comfortable (and good) with a convection oven? USE IT! Some of the biggest complaints we get regarding convection ovens come from people that, candidly, have seldom if ever use the convection features of their oven. That said, here's a few easy (and I do mean EASY) tips to get started with convection:
General rule of thumb: 25/25
If you are baking for a short duration (less than an hour), turn your temperature down by 25 degrees. If you are baking for longer than an hour, shorten your cook time by 25% (don't turn down the temperature). While not completely foolproof, this tip will help you start baking with convection confidently without the risk of ruining what you bake.
Baking or Roasting: It makes a difference
When convection cooking, what you are cooking matters. If it's cookies, use the convection BAKE feature of you oven (your oven heats from below, assisted by the convection fan). If it's a large piece of meat or roast, use convection ROAST (your oven now uses the broil element to top brown your food. Wait, what if I have a covered casserole or covered roaster? Well, then you can forget about convection. Since the food is not in direct contact with the heated fan air, the benefits of convection are close to none. Cook it without convection.
Convection Fans Don't Like Turbulence:
It's simple: the fewer "ripples" you can make in the smooth flow of heated convection air, the better you will bake. Use baking pans with low sides to get the full benefits of convection.
Be Fearless!
You'll never know how good your food will taste with convection if you never try. Try it with a favorite recipe and be a little attentive to how things are progressing during the bake. With absolutely NO modesty, I can say that the best prime rib I've ever eaten came out of my very own oven last Christmas. I never realized how good a meal could be. The secret: convection roasting. It made it all the more satisfying knowing I did it. (Thankfully, my guests enjoyed it as much as I did!)
While convection cooking isn't perfect for all recipes, it enhances tons of your favorite dishes. In short, convection just makes your meals taste better. Give it a try! You won't be disappointed.