Convection Oven or Conventional Oven for Baking
A reader asked what is best for baking, a gas convection oven or an electric oven so I asked Chef Leslie Bilderback, a certified master baker what she thought. As you will see from her anwer, it’s not about gas or eclectic but more about convection or non-convection. I have a 6-burner gas stovetop but the attached oven is electric where Chef Bilderback has a gas stovetop and oven.
So here is Judy’s Ask A Chef Question and Chef Bilderback’s answer. By the way, you really want to read my Novice to Pro Interview with Chef Leslie and if you are thinking of going to culinary school, you definitely want to read her book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Success as a Chef.
Judy asks, “Would you please inform me if a gas convection oven is better to bake cakes, cookies, etc than an electric oven. I am ready to purchase a gas convection oven to bake with. Thanks
Chef Leslie Bilderback replys,
“In my opinion, convection ovens are only useful if the fan can be disabled. The fan makes it hotter, which is useful when you want to cook something faster. This works for cookies, biscuits, muffins, puff pastry, and other laminates, and small stuff. Larger items will brown on the outside, and look done, before they are done on the inside. This is terrible for large loaves of bread, pound cakes, white meringues, or anything that’s delicate, like custards.
Gas or electric is not an issue for me in terms of ovens, but I must have a gas stove, and the oven is attached, so that’s what I have.
If you can disable the fan, then go for it. Otherwise, stick with a conventional oven.
FYI, convection ovens were developed for restaurants to speed things along. The fan was supposed to circulate air so that things brown evenly. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Things still brown unevenly with the fan. It is always necessary to rotate pans throughout baking.
One more note…Don’t be in such a hurry… stop and smell the rosemary! Some of my most enjoyable kitchen experiences happen while waiting for things to be done!
on December 31st, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I have a Samsung electric flat top stove with convection oven. I grew up cooking with gas and I miss it. A gas stove is the only way to cook, but I have learned to make do with what I have.
On the subject of convection, you lump all convection into one basket. Just as not all pots, or chef tools are the same, not all convection ovens are designed or work the same. When I hopped for convection, I found that Samsung was the only one to use three fans in their oven. So while I agree on the comments about large items that will brown before being fully cooked, I disagree about t how much rotating is required in a convection oven. In most cases, none, in rare cases I might turn something only if its shape is odd and air circulation is hampered. My convection oven has more than one setting for convection cooking, and I may also turn convection off if I feel that I don’t want or need it. I feel I have the best of both worlds. I would love a gas range on top of my convection oven.
on May 15th, 2010 at 10:00 am
I am trying to learn to bake/cook in a gas oven. The pizzas sink in the middle and take ages to cook, the stews are chewie and the baking burns on the bottom. HELP. I used to use a convection oven and had good results. Any tips would be wonderful.
Hi Margie, great question for an article I’ll have to write. I have an electric oven that also has the convection feature, but I don’t use it that much and I’m not sure why. With a convection oven the hot air circulates around your food move evenly therefore the food cooks faster than without. This helps especially when you are baking a pie crust or cookies but really shouldn’t make too much of a difference when you cooking a stew in a Dutch Oven.
Most ovens typically have hot spots where it gets hotter in once part of the oven than another, one of the reasons I rotate roasts. A convection oven moves the heat around so it isn’t as critical to be careful of hot spots. The hot circulating air allows you to cook at lower temperatures, as much as 25 degrees less and in less time. So I’m wondering if you just need to raise the temperatures to your favorite recipes and cook them a little longer for your previous results. I think with a little experimentation and practice, you will be back making delicious pizzas once more. Let me know if this works for you. - RG