New Oven Review: Bosch 800 is great!

We've moved into our new place, and are now back online. This means I'm now a first-time owner of a pair of convection ovens, and I really really love them. Bosch 800 Series; here’s the link. They make me happy.

They work better than I could have imagined, and not just for bread. We use them at almost every meal, and My husband likes and uses them too, and we’ve used both at once a few times. He made beef jerky the other day (dehydrate mode), and a pork tenderloin roast last night.

The Bosch has three elements in each oven, making them "European Convection". The third element is in the back oven wall, around the convection fan. That works better than the "American Convection", which lacks the element that is around the fan. My parents have an "American" style JennAir, and it cooks so unevenly that they never use convection.

I'm very glad I chose the Bosch over the Trivection ovens from GE. The Trivection was tempting because it is supposed to cook things quickly, especially casseroles. It has a low-level microwave in it, but just the "American Convection". I haven't tried a Trivection, but the Bosch ovens are faster than my old oven, and faster than the microwave if you’re fixing something from the freezer for the whole family. Speed Convection; they really mean that.

The Electrolux Icon also looked nice, but will not hold a 16" pizza stone. The stone fits into the Bosch just fine. There's a proof mode, which works nicely. Breads cook faster and rise more. If you get one, be sure to read the instructions, look at the guides, try out the programmed recipes, and expect your food to be done faster than a conventional oven.

Updadte:

I still love these ovens, but there is one fault: the display gets confusing sometimes, when both ovens are on. On a few occasions, I've had an oven be off, and I couldn't tell until later. On others, when trying to heat the lower oven to 550 for pizza, I ended up setting the upper oven. This was especially bad because the upper was supposed to be proofing some dough. I had to throw part of it away, even though I figured out what I'd done fairly quickly. It works great when I get the correct oven doing the job I want.

The Crazy World of Appliance Shopping: About Convection Ovens

I'm building a new house, and it's really baffling trying to choose kitchen appliances. There are so many to choose from, it is hard to figure out what makes one better than another. I'm shopping for quality and performance without extreme cost. Unfortunately, the market is focused primarily on the "look", or on performance that millionaires might be willing to buy.

For example, refrigerators. GE has the "Profile" line, with a certain styling (and pricing). The high-end of that line has dual evaporators, which is good. But, if you look at their models that have no "look" name, you can get one with dual evaporators that is less expensive than the cheapest "Profile" fridge. But didn't you really really want all your appliances to be "Profiles"? I don't think so.

Another example: Thermadore, Wolf, Sub-Zero, $$$$$$$$$. End of discussion.

Ovens are confusing too. If you stick a fan in the oven, you get to call it "convection". If there is a third (hidden) heating element that the fan blows past, it is called "European" convection, and you get to invent a trademarked nick-name for it. If it lacks the third element, having only the upper and lower heating elements, it is called "American Convection" or simply "Convection".

My parents have an "American" convection oven. They tried baking pizza, and still had to turn it for it to cook evenly. It also "auto-converts" the baking time and temperature by keeping the full time, and lowering the temperature. How useless! They don't use convection at all now. Not all convection ovens are created equally.

Convection is only useful if it heats the oven evenly, and if your food is in a shallow pan exposed to the air. The real power of a convection oven is if you have multiple trays that you want to cook at once, like cookies or rolls. From what I can gather, it doesn't help for casseroles, or especially not for covered pans.

I really wanted to try a Trivection oven, but I couldn't find many reviews on it, and it is expensive. Also the controls seem a bit gimmicky. I found some super expensive convection ovens that sound amazing. Finally, I found an Electrolux and a Bosch that were more reasonably priced, rate well at Consumer Reports, and sound really great. I've chosen the Bosch because it is deeper; the Electrolux cannot hold my pizza stone. Ok, so I took a pizza box to the showroom (it was the same size as my stone), ignored the curious glances, and actually stuck it inside the oven. It was the only way to know for sure. Beware! There is a Bosch that lacks the third heating element; make sure to get one that has it.

The Bosch convection ovens have a "proof" mode, and a "warm" mode. So, with double wall ovens, I can use them as an oven and a warming drawer, or an oven and a proofing box. Twice a year, I may use them as two ovens.

My house won't be done for another 2-3 months, so for now I just get to imagine cooking in my new oven. That has me thinking; I don't know how to use one. Can I make toast in it? I'm not having much luck finding cooking tips online. Sounds like I'll be writing more entries to document what I figure out. I have used a portable convection oven for the pretzels, and it does make them rise better, brown nicer, and cook faster than at home, so I'm hoping for some great results.