On Mon 02 Jan 2006 04:28:41p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Vox
Humana?

>
> "Wayne Boatwright" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On Mon 02 Jan 2006 03:12:26p, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Vox
>> Humana?
>>
>> >
>> > "Paul Giverin" > wrote in message
>> > ...
>> >> I've recently bought a new oven to replace my ageing oven which had
>> >> dodgy thermostat and was running so hot that it made baking anything
>> >> very difficult.
>> >>
>> >> I made sure that my new oven had a wide range of functions,
>> >> particularly the ability to turn the fan off because I had read that
>> >> a fan oven wasn't best for baking. So now I can chose to use top and
>> >> bottom heat or to use the "circotherm" fan function.
>> >>
>> >> The question is, is it really better to bake without the fan or are
>> >> fan ovens better for some types of baking?
>> >
>> > I use the convection setting for all my baking. I think it is
>> > especially good for bread and pizza. I would start with the
>> > convection on and see how your oven functions. Since it sounds like
>> > true convection, you can probably lower the temperature by 25F. For
>> > non-baked goods like casseroles, you can probably skip pre-heating.
>>
>> I love convection for roasting, but it's been a disaster for baking
>> anything other than cookies. Everything always burns on top before
>> it's done on the bottom and in the middle. Dropping the temperature
>> hasn't made a bit of difference.
>>
>
> Have you tried lowering the position of the pans in the oven? Also,
> some ranges have two convection setting- roast and bake (and some also
> have convection broil.) Roast often uses a combination of the top and
> bottom elements and a high fan speed. Convection bake only uses the
> bottom element and a reduced fan speed. This can be in combination with
> a dedicated convection element or not, depending on if the oven is true
> convection or just a fan assisted model. Excessive top browning
> generally suggests that the food is too high in the oven and/or the
> broil element is used.

Thanks for your suggestions, Vox. My range has a dedicated heating element
tucked inside the convection fan compartment in the rear of the oven. It
also has separate convection roast and bake settings, as well as convection
broil. I've thoroughly checked the settings I was using and they were
correct. I have lowered the rack position to the lower third of the oven,
and still get overbrowning. As I said, the only time I don't is with
cookies, where I can bake 3 pans at a time on 3 separate racks. I
attribute that to the short baking time. I now bake cakes and pies using
conventional heat without convection. It's not worth ruining anything
else.

--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
__________________________________________________ ________________
And if we enter a room full of manure, may we believe in the pony.