Commercial Convection Oven Vs Regular Oven
Business By lynn780 Updated 21 Oct 2011 , 7:35pm by stello_creations
I had a "regular" oven in my house before I got legal and now I have a commecial convection. I can tell you right now that baking 1 wedding cake took all freaking day, and sometimes i would break it into two days baking. In my commecial convection I can bake 2 -3 full weddings at once, in 3 hours.
What Anna said! I can get entire wedding cakes or 8 dozen cupcakes in my oven. Not to mention that mine gets to the correct temperature in around 3 minutes, which would take around 20-25 mins in a normal oven. I literally switch the oven on as I am finishing up loading the pans.
I have a convection oven at home that has the option of regular bake and convection bake. If I select convection bake I punch in the temp I would use for regular baking and the temp is automatically adjusted (lower by 25 degrees).
When I had just a regular oven I baked my cakes at 325 degrees. With the convection bake I punch in 375 degrees, the temp is automatically lowered to 350 degrees, and I get the same results (moist cake, no "hump"). I have NOT noticed the baking time being shorter using the convection oven but I can bake so much more at a time by using all 2 racks in the oven.
I can bake an entire 4 tier cake (2 12" round, 2 10" round, 2 8" round, 2 6" round) at the same time. Takes about 1 1/2 hours (baking and cooling time).
The main thing you have to look for is a true convection oven. Some ovens call themselves convection ovens because they have a fan, but they are not really convection ovens. The oven I have has 3 heating elements: top and bottom (like normal) and a third heating element behind the fan so the air that is blown into the oven is the same temp as the oven. This is really the only way the entire oven is the same temp causing even baking.
The only negative I have is sometimes (not every time) the top the cake gets hard, almost crust like. I trim the top off of each cake so it doesn't matter and it doesn't affect the rest of the cake - just the top. I think it is because of the fan blowing on it but I am not sure. Like I said, it is only sometimes this happens.
I own the Samsung FTQ38LWGX. I bought it from Lowes for $1400 including installation.
I thank the Lord every time I use my convection oven. I have five full sheet sized racks that will bake 5dzn cupcakes each, and I got it off Craigslist for $500. It is a Duke and if I had to go back to a regular oven, I would quit baking. I love it sooo much. I think it runs hot, so I have it set at 280 degrees on the dial and get nice flat cakes. I use bake even strips and a flower nail. I can't say if it is faster or not, (I check them when they smell done and feel them, never use a timer) but I really don't care. It is so big I can't fill it fast enough to get the whole thing filled at once for longer than a few minutes.
I am definitely of the the minority opinion. Was going to send this as a PM and avoid controversy, but figured what the heck-- people ought to hear both sides.....
I have a double residential convection oven at home. I love the convection feature for roasts and bread but NEVER it use it for cake or cookies.
I've used various commercial convection ovens at pastry school and jobs and never found one I liked. In my opinion, the the cakes cook too fast and don't rise as much, and the tops set before they should. In some ovens the blower is strong enough to make the cakes lopsided.
At one shop where I worked, we had to preheat the oven, put in the cake, turn off the oven, wait eight minutes, turn the oven back on and rotate the cakes. So much for even convection baking! Research well before you buy!
I now have a shop and have two Deluxe" Convecta Ray" ovens. They are said to use "gentle" convection and a heat source above and below each shelf for even baking. This works fairly well for cakes, but meringues and macarons do not react well to having a top heat source for each shelf. In addition, we've had the ovens for about a year and a half and the thermostats have been funky. The manufacturer has tried to trouble shoot this for us, but even after replacing the thermostats in both ovens, they can lose heat for no reason or gain heat for no reason. Now, we've been told to bend the thermocouples. We're a little leery of this idea.
If I had it to do over again, I might get stacked deck ovens or, if my volume was large enough, a rotating deck oven like we had at school that moves the cakes around like a ferris wheel with the heat source at the bottom. One of the shops I worked in also had one of those and it worked really well in both places.
Everyone else really likes convection. What can I say? None of my chef instructors liked them for baking, either..... Just my $0.02 .....
I am definitely of the the minority opinion. Was going to send this as a PM and avoid controversy, but figured what the heck-- people ought to hear both sides.....
I have a double residential convection oven at home. I love the convection feature for roasts and bread but NEVER it use it for cake or cookies.
I've used various commercial convection ovens at pastry school and jobs and never found one I liked. In my opinion, the the cakes cook too fast and don't rise as much, and the tops set before they should. In some ovens the blower is strong enough to make the cakes lopsided.
At one shop where I worked, we had to preheat the oven, put in the cake, turn off the oven, wait eight minutes, turn the oven back on and rotate the cakes. So much for even convection baking! Research well before you buy!
I now have a shop and have two Deluxe" Convecta Ray" ovens. They are said to use "gentle" convection and a heat source above and below each shelf for even baking. This works fairly well for cakes, but meringues and macarons do not react well to having a top heat source for each shelf. In addition, we've had the ovens for about a year and a half and the thermostats have been funky. The manufacturer has tried to trouble shoot this for us, but even after replacing the thermostats in both ovens, they can lose heat for no reason or gain heat for no reason. Now, we've been told to bend the thermocouples. We're a little leery of this idea.
If I had it to do over again, I might get stacked deck ovens or, if my volume was large enough, a rotating deck oven like we had at school that moves the cakes around like a ferris wheel with the heat source at the bottom. One of the shops I worked in also had one of those and it worked really well in both places.
Everyone else really likes convection. What can I say? None of my chef instructors liked them for baking, either..... Just my $0.02 .....
I totally agree. Never met a convection oven I liked. And interesting comment about causing controversy...
As far as controversy goes, I really don't get it. Why could any of care any less about who likes convection and who hates it? Opinions were asked for, and they have been given. No biggie. It's not like scratch Vs Mix or whether Jello pudding makes it not from scratch anymore. 
Sigh...........
SERIOUSLY???? what up with that? I really don't understand why there would be controversy over convection Vs regular. I know better than to say anything about scratch Vs mix or cottage food Vs separate kitchen, but it seems to me like you would really have to have ZERO hope in humanity to think there would be a controversy between convection or not, unless there is a post somewhere that i missed where the two sides clashed, but I just find it highly unlikely. 
At this point, it seems to me that you are trying to start something, especially with your thinly veiled snarkiness of your visable sigh and a dozen or so periods after it. If you were really sighing and wanted no controversy, you'd have kept that to your self. 
The words of Will Smith in Independence Day come to mind, "Don't start none, there won't be none."
edited for at least one spelling mistake, there may be more 
Does anyone have any picture they would like to share of their ovens?
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