# Best oven for macarons



## theflourstation

Hi there

I have a small patisserie in South Africa and we are currently using our home kitchen to supply various restaurants and delis with our products. We are now in the fortunate position to start looking for a premises for our business as we cannot cope producing the orders from a home kitchen. 

One of the most popular products that we sell is the macaron.  Currently we use a standard kitchen oven, middle shelf, no fan, to bake the macarons but can only bake one pan at a time. When you have to produce between 600 and 800 a day, one pan at a time does  not work. Can anyone advice me on which is the best commercial oven to get for macarons - deck or convection? I know the advantages of using a deck vs a convection oven for pastries, breads and cakes, bit not for macarons. I have contacted a few of the local suppliers of commercial ovens but no one can really provide me with valuable advice. If I do get a convection 10 pan oven, can I use all 10 pans at the same time?

Thank you in advance.


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## vauxs

i recommended the convection oven rather than the deck...i've been using it for almost 5 years now and it seems my macaron almost perfect...


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## jcakes

I have a convection and we do macaron in it; the only thing I don't like about it is it can color the shells ever so slightly - a pale pink will have a bit of brown on the curved edge of the shell and this happens in the hot spots in the oven which are along the left edge. It really annoys me because the ovens are less than two years old and the repair place tells me I should live with it, Blodgett says it's within spec.


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## theflourstation

Thanks very much for the feedback. We have decided to stick with convection ovens for the time being. I did however change my baking sheets to blue steel baking sheets and it has made such a difference in the macarons.


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## new baker

Hi, I have the same issue..and would like to buy a commercial convection oven to bake lots of macarons at once. Could you let me know the type and model of oven you use? Many thanks!


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## jcakes

The Blodgett is a Zephaire, gas model.  Blodgett makes several versions of convection ovens; this is the middle of the road one - there are better ones out there but of course the price is that much higher !  People have told me the glass doors are problematic because they can leak; mine developed condensation on the inside (when the oven is first turned on) within the first four months but there have been no problems with the doors.  It bothers me A LOT that the oven temp is 25 degrees off but I have been told by two repair techs and the place I bought it from  that the oven is within spec. 

I would definitely buy a Blodgett again; I would just buy the better model...


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## lluvllymacarons

The kitchen I'm renting has 2 Baker's Pride electric convection ovens and I'm having an awful time with my macarons. If I use the very top shelf, above the oven, all is well.

I'm cooking at about 280 degrees. If I use any of the other shelves, my macs are deformed - sometimes even windblown. Can I fix this by rotating or turning the pans?


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## flipflopgirl

First thing I would do is speak to the kitchen owner (he/she has a contractual obligation to provide working equipment, right?)

Is their another baker there having less trouble and would help a girl out?

While that storm is brewing try the sheet pan turns, double your pans, maybe you NEED new sheets?

The "windblown" effect may be cured by turning the fan down?

Sorry for the unanswered answers.

Your post was just hanging and didn't want you to think we are not hospitable here at CT.

/img/vbsmilies/smilies/smiles.gif

mimi


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## foodpump

"Best" oven for macarons?

Deck, of course.  With a deck you can set your top and bottom heat individually, and that's something impossible to do with a convection.

Macarons are very light, and need to be piped out on paper, or silicone mats if you have them.  Convections have the nasty habit of "worrying" the paper, picking up the corners and shoving everything towards the middle.  Yes, you can turn off the fan on convections, but they are NOT designed to perform well like that.


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## jcakes

Does your oven have a fan with two speeds or just one?  Because if it's one speed, there's not much  you can do; if you manually turn off the fan, you risk damaging the equipment; Antonio Bachour is coming out with a new book next month and I've been pining away at his macaron because the colors are so perfect; mine still fade in the oven.  I asked him what he uses at the hotel, and he has Blodgett convections and bakes at 280, low fan.  The next time I make macaron, I'm going to lower the temp to see if that helps colorwise.

The only idea I came up with - and this is a long shot - a VERY LONG shot - is that if you use a pan extender on your sheet pan, that will help protect the shells from  being windblown due to the fan speed if you only have one speed.  The pan extender is 2" tall and maybe that might help.  Or I guess it could make it worse by creating a wind tunnel...


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