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| Baking (rec.food.baking) For bakers, would-be bakers, and fans and consumers of breads, pastries, cakes, pies, cookies, crackers, bagels, and other items commonly found in a bakery. Includes all methods of preparation, both conventional and not. |
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Steam injection -- don't try this at home! [was Who are you...?]
http://www.cookingwithcrack.com/bread/steam/
isabella "Randall Nortman" > schreef in bericht ink.net... > On 2006-01-19, Bob (this one) > wrote: > > Randall Nortman wrote: > >> On 2006-01-18, Bob (this one) > wrote: > >> > >>>Who subscribes to rec.food.baking? Are you a professional? Are you a guy > >>>who likes to bake on weekends? Are you a mother who needs to bake for a > >>>family? Hobby? Work? Hate it but have to? Love it but not enough time? > >>> > >>>Who are you? What kinds of information are you seeking? > >> > >> > >> "Serious amateur" cook and baker (except I don't take the "serious" > >> part too seriously). W.r.t. baking, it is mostly bread, mostly > >> whole-grain, mostly sourdough, though occasionally I use a little > >> white flour and/or some yeast. I have my own grain mill and bake with > >> various grains. I built a steam injection system for my home oven > >> (which I'm am currently in the process of upgrading by replacing > >> copper tubing with stainless steel and silicone). > > > > I'd be interested in hearing more about this. What kind of oven? How > > does your injections system work? Hardware? > [...] > > The oven is a very cheap, low-end electric GE model, about 25 years > old. I got the idea from newsgroups -- search for "pressure cooker > steam injection" on Google groups, in this group plus > alt.bread.recipes, rec.food.sourdough, and rec.food.equipment (I > forget where I saw it). The idea is that you boil water on the > stovetop in a pressure cooker, and direct the steam into the oven via > heat-resistant tubing of some sort. You need to tap a pipe fitting > into the pressure cooker lid and find a way into the oven -- all > residential ovens are vented in some way, and that's the first place > to look. In my case, the vent is underneath one of the back burners. > It's a tight squeeze, but I managed to route some copper tubing > through there and into the oven. My current problem is that copper > tubing is actually only rated for up to 400F -- it doesn't melt when > it gets hotter, but the end that goes into the oven is getting quite > corroded now. I am going to replace it with a short length of > stainless steel tubing (expensive, but takes high heat and doesn't > corrode) for the part that's actually in the oven, and then use a > length of high-temp silicone (food-safe, plasticizer-free, rated up to > 500F) to connect the boiler to the stainless tubing. The stainless > steel will then stay in my oven all the time, even when I'm not doing > bread, which will be much more convenient than my current system, > which involves installing and removing the copper tubing every time I > bake bread. When I finish this project, perhaps I'll post pictures > and details. > > The final results depend on the strength of the stovetop burners. My > stovetop is cheap electric, and can't boil water as fast as I'd like. > I don't get the intense burst of steam that you'd get in a commercial > combi oven, but I do get much more than tricks like setting a pan of > water in the oven. I can keep the steam going as long as I'd like > (usually 10-15 minutes, until oven spring is totally done), and it > does get plenty steamy in there -- I can see steam rising from the > gaps in the oven door seal (remember, this is a cheap 25-year old > oven) almost immediately after I close the door, and I definitely need > to stand back for a moment when I open the door with the steam on. > The bread also cooks faster, presumably because wet air transfers heat > to the dough more quickly than dry air, or maybe because the air > movement created by the jet of steam coming out of the end of the pipe > turns my oven into a pseudo-convection oven. > > Please note that all of the above is potentially dangerous and will > void any warranties within 100 yards. I'm not advising anybody to do > it. > > When I have a chance to build or renovate a new kitchen, I've got my > eye on the Gaggenau residential combi oven. Expensive, but much > better than this mad scientist contraption I've currently got going. > I think KitchenAid just came out with one as well. > > -- > Randall |
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