# Blodgett ZEPHAIRE-200-G-ES??



## cookielane (Jul 22, 2014)

I am looking at purchasing this oven for baking cookies. There are five racks, but wondering if anyone knows anything about this oven. I have heard nightmare stories about so many oven, from cookies burning , cooking uneven, etc.

this was a great thread, http://www.cheftalk.com/t/69999/commercial-convection-ovens-for-baking-cookies

Any experience with the Blodgett ZEPHAIRE-200-G-ES ?

Or a site that might have reviews for this one?

I need to bake as many cookies as possible without waste and not going bk buying an oven haha

Thank you so much in advance!


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

If you read the previous thread on the subject you will understand the following:

The blodgett zephaire 200 is a gas convection oven

1)Gas ovens have a "fire box" located on the bottom,  the fan sucks up the heat and blows it around.  Seeing as how heat always rises, the lower part of the oven will be hotter than the upper, as this is where the heat is produced. . 

2)As the fan only rotates in one direction, you will get more heat in the direction the fan blows in.  You will see this quite quickly with cookies, load in 5 trays of cookies identical in thickness and size, and the bottom right area of the oven will be hotter.

I'm not saying the blodgett zephair is a lousy oven, it is one of the better N.American ovens and one that has a decent warranty, and is well made. However, if cookies is all you are doing, go for a deck oven--not a convection, you'll get a far more even bake.

Then again, I said all of that in the previous post you listed


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## cookielane (Jul 22, 2014)

Thank you for responding,

I heard that better ovens bake evenly so thats why I was wondering about the blodgett zephaire 200. but I guess science is science and if that is the way the oven works then there is no way around the bottom tray getting over cooked. Perhaps a thicker tray on the bottom level? Ever try that? Or would the top rack be undercooked... I wish there was a way to experiment with out having to buy one first.

So the deck oven you mentioned in the other thread, you said it can have 3-4 trays at once, I am guessing that is a single deck oven and not a double stack? Sorry for the newbie questions


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## grande (May 14, 2014)

Well... you don't have to leave that bottom tray in when they're done. Thd other trays just won't be done yet.
Convection oven are great multi use ovens for commercial kitchens because they run HOT, temps bounce back quickly, and they are usable for a lot of things. But, whether roasting or baking or whatever, it's advisable to rotate trays - turning them and changing racks as well. If you're just baking you'll get better performance from an oven designed for baking.... much better performance.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Yes, per deck.  You can stack as many decks ontop of each other as you like.

I've done pretty much everything with convections, learned to place a tray of flat bbq bricks on the very bottom of electric ovens for "hearth" baking, and also to provide some heat mass storage because once you open those two giant doors, you will loose a lot of heat.  Open the doors, say 5 times in 10 minutes and your kitchen is going to get verrrrrrrry hot, and your oven will take a long time to get back up to the heat zone you want it at.  Deck ovens have very small doors and you loose very little heat when you open them.

If you are stuck with a convection, you can make it work.  Many places have and do.  But if you are going to specialize in cookies, might as well get  an oven that works for you--not you working for it.

I dunno abut "experimenting", I must have worked in 20 places before I started my own business, and by that time I had a pretty good idea of what kind of equipment I needed.


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