On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 23:30:05 -0800,
wrote:

> after a few years of baking all our breads at home, and now getting
> into sourdough breads I've come to realize that standard ovens are
> poorly equiped for such activity.
>
> We're about to embark on a major remodel of our home and one of my
> presents to myself is going to be an oven specifically for bread.
>
> Unfortunately it seems that most ovens in this category are solely
> professional. It's really difficult finding one under 20K :/ This is
> definitely out of my price range in several orders of magnitude.
>
> I have come across two oven which seem to fit but I'm curious as to
> whether any of you other home-bakers have any suggestions.
>
> The model I really want is made by Gaggenau but it's still pretty
> costly. It's a positive pressure steam and convection oven with
> misting capabilities. It definitely looks like the ticket. One of the
> features it has that I haven't found on any other residential level
> oven (which there are only two others) is that it has temperature
> settings as low as 70 degrees which enabled it to be used as a proofing
> oven. at 70 degrees you can also control the humidity from about 50%
> to 100%, which seems like it could really do well as a starter
> activator and proofing oven.
>
> The unit is still pretty costly so I'm wondering if anyone out there
> has found anything they prefer.
>
> the gaggenau model is the ED220 and you can see it at www.gaggenau.com
>
> -Scott

Well, I have a Wolf oven/range. It doesn't have marked thermostat settings
below 150 F, but it still works all the way down to room temperature.
I've been thinking about adding my own marks below 150.

For example, sometimes when I am in a hurry, I let my loaves rise in the
oven. I turn the dial up slowly until I hear the switch click, then I back
off just a touch, and leave it there. If I am not in a hurry, I let the
loaves rise at room temp.

The Wolf also has a convection fan, which I always use whenever I bake
anything at all.

One thing about the Wolf (and probably any other high-BTU gas oven) is
that since it burns a lot of gas in a hurry, it also puts a lot of
humidity and exhaust gas into the kitchen. So a good exhaust fan is
mandatory. After the pre-heat phase is over, it is not so bad, and I
usually turn off the exhaust fan.

The Wolf is still a very expensive oven. If it had been up to me, I would
have bought a kitchen-aid or something, but my wife loves the red knobs on
the Wolf.

--Mac