How to choose and use an oven

From the day I started sharing cooking clips, many people have asked me about the oven: what brand of oven am I using? How to choose the oven? Where did I buy the oven? and etc. This morning, I received another cute message from DD: “Can you advise me to buy an oven and an electric mixer? I watched some of your clips and went crazy and wanted to practice doing it right away”. She made me so excited, so I decided to write an entire article about the oven so everyone interested could choose to buy their most suitable oven!

I. Buttons in the oven:

My first oven was a birthday present from my mother. That day, my mother and I went to a shop specializing in selling electrical appliances on Ho Tung Mau Street, and the owner of the store advised us to buy a 50L Sanaky oven. I had never used an oven before, so I took the shop owner’s recommendation that it was good. After a period of use, I concluded that a fully functional oven has 4 buttons below:

1. Temperature adjustment knob: While the microwave only has a power knob, the oven has a temperature adjustment knob.
– You should pay attention to adjust the temperature in accordance with the instructions of each cake’s recipe. My advice is that you should buy a thermometer, put it inside the oven because according to my observation, the oven when I first bought was slightly hotter than the temperature shown on the knob; after using about 1 week, the heat is accurate and stable; but after 1 year of use, the oven temperature began to differ quite much (often hotter).
– You must turn the oven to the specified minimum temperature at least 10 minutes in advance, to help the cake rise evenly. (I use the word “specified minimum temperature” because there are some types of cakes, at first we bake at one temperature, but later we have to adjust the temperature).

2. Time adjustment knob: For ragout, I prefer to bake in the oven than to stew on the stove, because the oven has a time adjustment knob. A forgetful person like me can do other things with no worry, no need to take care of the stewing pot on the stove, but just waiting to hear the “clink’ sound to return to the kitchen to check ?

3. Heat mode adjustment knob: You can choose the upper or lower heat or both at the same time. For most types of cake, you should turn on two-heated mode (both upper and lower heat). For some types of cake, we only use upper or lower heat, and the instruction will state that clearly.

4. Convection fan adjustment knob: It doesn’t matter if your oven has no knob to adjust the convection fan. I also learn on forums to find that some people do not use fans, some use fans for all dishes, others use fans for some cakes such as choux and macaron. As far as I know, when you turn on the fan, the temperature in the oven will be more even and the baking time will be shorter. This knob also has a reverse rotation mode, used to grill a whole chicken/ duck or a large piece of meat, making the meat evenly done & have a nice yellow color.

II. Choose the appropriate oven:

You should choose the oven with the following two conditions:
– There are 3 knobs to adjust temperature, time and heat mode.
– Use an oven with a volume of 40L or more. Because with the small ones, I find it a bit difficult to adjust the temperature.

Previously, I used a 50L Sanaky oven. But then, I baked a lot. With a 500gr batch of cookie dough, I had to bake in 2 times, so I changed to an 80L Sanaky oven. This oven has an advantage over the 50L oven thanks to the round heating bar helps heat disperse better. While baking, I noticed that the cake was done more evenly and the inner corner was not too hot. The price difference between these two ovens is only about 800 thousand VND. You can choose to buy an oven with the capacity depending on your use demand and the area of the kitchen!

I am used to Sanaky ovens, so I only have experience with Sanaky ovens. So if anyone asks for my suggestion, I will always recommend Sanaky ovens!

III. Some additional suggestions for oven usage:

– I find the instructions rarely mention which oven rack we should put the cake on to bake because it’s mostly up to each person’s experience. For me, when baking a large cake which has a big amount of flour, requiring long baking time, I will put it on the bottom rack; When baking a small cake which requires high temperature and shorter time, I will put it on the middle rack.
– If you notice the oven temperature is uneven (the two inner corners are hotter than the outer two corners), when the required time passes half, you should turn the tray back.
– If your upper heat is hotter than the lower heat, you should move the baking tray’s position.
– One thing to note is that you should restrict opening the oven door which will change the temperature.
– Some of you often ask if you don’t have an oven, can you replace it with a microwave. In most cases, the answer is “no”! Because these two have different features.

The oven is a close friend of those who love the kitchen, so probably no one understands the oven as well as its owner. If “both of you” is just getting to know each other, you should record the abnormalities of the oven so you can adjust them yourself!

IV. How to clean the oven: 

– With the oven broiler and baking tray, you should clean immediately after baking to avoid long-time stains that are difficult to clean!

– With the oven frame, sometimes you clean by mixing white vinegar with baking soda in a ratio of 1: 2, then adding a few drops of cooking oil and water to form a thick paste. Using a soft cloth or brush, dip in the mixture and spread it on the oven door, the bottom of the oven, and on the sides of the oven. About 30 minutes later, wipe off with warm water.

Have a nice day! ^ _ ^