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Hi All--

This issue was definitely more labor-intensive than I intended for it to be,
but I certainly learned a thing or two. Originally, I asked the list if
anyone knew how convection (circulating hot air) toaster ovens work for GF
baking, and specifically for baking bread. Since our dough can be fragile
depending on the recipe, circulating air could cause havoc with how our
bread rises, etc.

Only one person wrote to say that in a commercial oven, the GF bread did get
blown down and to one side. Otherwise, people with convection ovens were
overwhelmingly pleased with how GF baked goods came out. Now, I'm not
convinced that everyone who responded had a "toaster" sized oven - some
replies sounded more as though they were happy with, perhaps, a full
kitchen-sized convection oven.

This was my experience: I bought an Oster digital convection toaster oven
large enough to bake bread. To make a long story short, the temperature
during baking wasn't accurate. I baked bread in the Oster last Saturday, set
on 350 degrees for 1 hour. By the time I took the bread out, 1 1/2 hours
later, it was still a little too "doughy." When I used my oven thermometer
to check the temperature (after baking the bread...) 350 degrees was
actually 325 degrees. I could only increase the temp in 25 degree
increments, so when I increased the temp to 375 degrees, it was actually
heating to 400 degrees. I decide that I had a faulty oven.

I now have a GE convection toaster oven - NOT digital. It runs hot, so when
I set the oven temp to 300 degrees, I get 350. I'm going to try baking bread
again tonight. All in all, toaster ovens are not as good as full kitchen
ovens, but I'm just trying to find a way to save energy costs. Heating up a
big kitchen oven every time I want to bake bread for just me is expensive.

The Oster convection toaster oven did not change how my bread rose and
baked, so if the temperature had been accurate, I think it would have done a
great job - the circulating air does cook and brown food more evenly,
especially when one turns the food 180 degrees half-way through cooking.

Thanks to everyone who replied. And the moral of the story is (for me,
anyway) - always check the oven temperature BEFORE baking a critical food
item - and some of us know that bread is the most critical of the critical
foods for most of us!!  Cheers  ~~Ayn in Alabama

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