# deck vs. convection oven



## jonnysa (Oct 1, 2010)

Good Day

I am fairly new to the baking industry and I am looking into opening a small bakery. I will be baking ONLY bread (rye bread, focaccia, ciabatta, sourdough bread and french baquettes).

I am just a bit lost as to what type of commercial oven to purchase. Do I go for convection ovens or deck ovens? I have read that deck ovens are better for bread baking but have never received a detailed explanation as to why.

Could someone please give me some information on which type of oven to purchase for BREAD baking and as to why it is the better choice?

Any information to this topic will be much appreciated!!!

Thanks

Jonny


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Hooo-boy...

Usually when someone opens a bread bakery, they've worked in the industry for years and know pretty much what they want.

THE GOLDEN RULE;  There's no such thing as a "perfect" oven

There are convection ovens, 'a'la "Baker's pride" "Blodgett" "South Bend" etc. These are best suited for commercial kitchens. They work well--pretty darn good as a matter of fact--for bread, but not ideal for a bread bakery--Too small. 

When you go to supermarkets, Costco, etc, you'll see real baker's convections ovens.  Some are built so's you can wheel in a speed rack/baker's trolley full of bread, load the whole thing in the oven,watch it rotate in the oven, and wheel it out when it's done.  Very good for high production.  Convections only have one temperature setting,and only one temperature zone.  This has it's pros an cons

Deck ovens have different controls--separate controls for top heat, and bottom heat, and usually for the first 1/3 of the front of the oven. Multiple temperature zones. You can have pale bottoms and dark tops, or vice versa.  A lot of flexibility with this type of oven.

What a real bread baking oven has is a steam generator.  This is a separte unit that,--generates steam-, and pumps it into the oven cavity.  This produces crispy crusts for bread and buns.  You can have this device on convection or deck, but it is more popular with deck ovens.  The steam generators require a separate 30 amps and water hook up,ontop of the regular juice to your ovens. 

DO NOT get fooled by so called "steam buttons" built into the commercial kitchen type ovens.  All this is, is a squirt gun that sprays water on the squirrel cage fan, and that flings tiny droplets all over the oven cavity.  Water + energy = steam.  Problem is, where does the energy come from?  To convert the water to steam, the water robs the oven of heat.  You will get steam, but your oven will cool down quite a bit.  

Check out the pro ovens like Revent, Winkler-Wachtel, Sveba-Dahlen, etc. 

Good ovens will cost, lots.  Too small of an oven and your production will be seriously backlogged, too large of one and your money is tied up in the extra space and power.

Bread baking is all about production.  You need to work in a production bakery for a while to figure out your own production flows and to find wholesale accounts.

Hope this helps


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## jonnysa (Oct 1, 2010)

Thank you very much for the reply. It really helped!

I was a bit vague when saying I am opening a small bakery. As a matter of fact I will only be supplying the bread to 2 colleague's (Both have catering business's), so my production volume will not be that high. The convection oven will be the better choice.

Thank you for taking the time to explain the pros and cons, much appreciated!

Especially the part about the steam buttons. Most ovens I have looked at has this "steam button ". I will be looking for one with separate steam generator now.

When I get more experience and more clients later on, I will definitely convert to deck.

Jonny


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Your welcome


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