# Oven advice - deck or convection?



## phatter21 (Feb 12, 2021)

I am moving from using a home convection oven baking pasteis de nata (portuguese tarts) for farmers markets to a commercial cooking appliance and am unsure whether to look at another convection oven with a higher temperature range and capacity or a deck oven. Tarts are the traditional puff pastry with egg custard. I appreciate the advice as I’ve never used a deck oven. Tia


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## jcakes (Feb 18, 2007)

are there any restrictions in the space you're moving to? Do you get to choose which type of oven? Are you moving to a new space or replacing the oven you have at home?


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## phatter21 (Feb 12, 2021)

jcakes said:


> are there any restrictions in the space you're moving to? Do you get to choose which type of oven? Are you moving to a new space or replacing the oven you have at home?


There aren't really any size restrictions as I have a commercial kitchen on my home premises but I don't need anything too massive as I only need to bake a few days a week and not in huge quantities. I can choose whichever oven but I'm torn between a deck or a convection.


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## marzi (Sep 10, 2007)

Convection oven. Its design and logic is much better for heat transfer.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Here's the difference:

With convections, you manipulate the product and your workflow to suit the oven.

With decks, you manipulate the oven's controls to suit the product..

Big difference? You betcha!

If you want a crispy bottom and jiggly custard/filling, you need a deck. A convection is just plain stupid: It blows hot air around with no hot zones and no bottom heat ( or hearth). Your Portuguese pastry has been around for centuries, developed in conjuction with wood fired stone ovens ( the only kind +/-150 years ago..) to give you a crispy bottom and a jiggly just-done filling.

Hope this helps...


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## marzi (Sep 10, 2007)

foodpump said:


> Here's the difference:
> 
> With convections, you manipulate the product and your workflow to suit the oven.
> 
> ...


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## marzi (Sep 10, 2007)

That is what the old know-it-alls used to say. I can tell you that I made beautiful dessert souffles for years in a convection oven.

HAVE THE EQUIPMENT








Be well-equipped with technology tools.
-- *To do good work, one must have good tools.*
That Chinese proverb sums it up well.

---*A bad worker blames his tools.*
And so does this Australian proverb


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## phatter21 (Feb 12, 2021)

foodpump said:


> Here's the difference:
> 
> With convections, you manipulate the product and your workflow to suit the oven.
> 
> ...


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## phatter21 (Feb 12, 2021)

I absolutely love this and the way you have worded it. Brilliant advice and the exact reason I have been leaning heavily towards a deck oven even though I haven’t used one previously. I also am finding the convection is drying out my pastry which is a reason I am putting more and more ticks in the deck oven column. Thank you very much for cementing my choice!


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## marzi (Sep 10, 2007)

if you have an oven in your home kitchen, it is a deck oven. 
One big tick in the +list column for Deck Oven should be cost.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Marzi,

A deck oven has individual controls for top heat and bottom heat, it also has a vent to control the humidity, but the biggest difference is the deck, or hearth.

Throughout my 40 year career Ive worked in more kitchens that had convections than decks, and while convections are perfect for many applications, they fall short in many pastry and bread products. They are also noisy, expel a lot of heat when you open the doors ( not a good thing in a tiny kitchen in summer), and many of them necessitate the rotation of trays partway through the bake, which means you have to open those huge doors constantly, heating up your kitchen and at the same time cooling down your oven.


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## jcakes (Feb 18, 2007)

It's unusual to be able to have a *real* choice - usually appliance purchases are driven by cost, space, ventilation or fire suppression impacts. Foodpump is spot on in his advice. 

No one is saying it's not possible to do pastry in a convection oven - you've done it, I'm doing it, but it's definitely a different bake in a convection; you can't just set it and forget it. Nothing know-it-all about it; it's been my experience too for 18 years. When I finally got to a point of being able to afford my own commercial space (not sharing with established kitchens), I could only afford a double stack convection when what I really wanted was a deck oven. I still wish I had a deck oven every time I have to spin a tray, or make cheesecake or the cupcakes come out looking like they're sticking out their tongues because of even the way the low fan pushes the batter....... I made the choice based on what I could spend at the time without incurring debt. I don't regret not having debt for a second, but I do wish I'd been able to afford a deck oven.


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