OT: Convection oven question/advice

[browneye]

Hi all,
I am getting a new oven this week, it is a Dacor convection oven. It has options for regular baking, regular plus convection, pure convection, etc.

I would appreciate any advice on the following:

1. when do you bake with or without convection?
2. What has been your experience in adjusting cooking times and temps, etc?

3. Do you like your convection oven?
I really thank anyone for help on this topic!

[Beth]

I had a KitchenAid convection oven in my last home, and my husband has been eyeing those Dacor ovens to replace what we have here. I'd love to hear how you like yours after you've been able to test it out.

Convection is supposed to be good for baking cookies evenly, breads, roasts. I would expect Dacor to give you a booklet or more with some guides on how to make best use of the oven.

[browneye]

Beth,
Thank you, I will let you know after I have a little usage under my belt! I am really looking forward to this as my current old oven is really not good at all. This new one also has closed-door broiling which is really nice since I am sooo tired of setting off all of the smoke alarms and breathing smoke when I broilwith my current oven!! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif

[Karenf]

I have had convection for about 10 years and love it. I use it mostly for uncovered meats. It keeps in the juices and the meat comes out so moist. I don't bake much so I'm no help there but I know you can bake as many as 5 racks of cookies at a time. Generally for meats you lower the temperature by 25 degrees and reduce the cooking time by about 25% or more depending on what you're cooking.

[Leslie w]

I love my KitchenAid convection oven. It's great for roasts. I usually decrease my cooking time by 15 min/hr and the temp. 25 degrees. I heard it does a fabulous job baking but I haven't tried it yet. I need to experiment w/ that but I'm so afraid of overdone cookies and I know with convection every min counts. It also does a great job w/ baked potatoes. The skins are nice and crispy and the inside dry and fluffy. I do notice that w/ pies to prevent the crust from browning too much in the convection mode you have to put it on convection roast. My oven has convection bake, broil and roast. The broil is a closed door broiler too. Good luck. You'll love your Dacor!

[junietoo]

I've had a Jenn-Aire convection oven for seven years. I've found it does best with "durable" items such as turkey's, casseroles, etc. I use it for cookie recipes I bake often and have established shortened times/temps. I haven't had much luck with pies -- my crust gets too brown before the filling is ready. I've never tried it with cakes -- I'm too worried about charring the edges before the center is done.

I'm sure there are balances for the time/temps for everything, I just haven't put the time into learning them. But, I'm going to try the rule of thumb you all have suggested.

[Curleytop]

I also have had my Jennair oven for 12 years. I use the convection for cookies, cakes, pies, roasts, poultry, anything WITHOUT a cover. Covered items are cooked
on the Regular cycle. Another plus is that when you use convection cooking, you reduce the oven temperature by 25°! You will also find that the cooking time is less!
I don't know what I would do without this feature! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif