Oven Adventures

For those of you who don't read my other blog, we recently bought a combination microwave/convection oven to replace the vent hood over our gas range.

We bought it last Saturday, Spouse Guy installed in Sunday, and since then I've had very little time to play with it, but here's what I know about it so far.

The microwave is just as you'd expect. However, the popcorn sensor button really works, which is something that never quite worked well on the other microwaves I've had.

The convection oven will take a little getting used to. For one thing, the instruction manual was contradictory about whether or not you can use traditional metal pans when using the convection only feature. I've been especially careful about using microwave safe dishes, and I've been slightly dissatisfied with the way things have browned (or not) on the bottom. A phone call to Maytag this morning cleared that up; when using the convection-only setting, metal pans may be used.

Here's my first attempt at baking something. It's obviously a pizza, but I don't think it's a good test example. For one thing, I used a crust mix rather than mixing up my own (I almost never do that, but I was busy yesterday) and I accidentally bought fat-free mozzarella cheese and had it open before I realized my mistake. That stuff doesn't melt! I baked the pizza on a stone, which I often do, and used the convection setting. The bottom didn't brown well. I'm not going to make a judgment call on this, because I'd like to try again, with my own crust, cheese that will melt and a metal pan.



This morning I tried baking muffins. This was before the phone call to Maytag, so erring on the side of caution, I used my new silicone muffin pan. This first batch, filled with Peach-Mango fruit spread, went straight into the pan (no greasing or spraying necessary) and was baked on the convection setting. They took 15 minutes to bake and were nicely brown on top, but a little less so on bottom.



For the second batch, filled with strawberry preserves, I used cupcake papers simply so that I could get them ready while the first batch baked. I put the filled papers into the same silicone pan. This time I used the combination microwave/convection setting and they took just 9 minutes to get done, but as you can see, they barely browned at all, didn't rise as well, and they stuck to the papers (which I probably should have sprayed with non-stick spray).



Obviously, the first batch is more visually appealing. Both batches tasted great, but the second batch was actually just a little more moist and tender. Really, the taste/texture difference wasn't enough to be concerned about.



I think if I were making cupcakes or a cake that was going to be frosted, I would use the quicker combination-cooking setting. Otherwise, I'd use convection for the sake of appearance.



Next time I'll try baking in a metal pan, or maybe roasting or broiling meat. I'll let you know how those turn out, too.

Meanwhile, here's the muffin recipe. It came from Tawra Kellam's book "Not Just Beans", which is a really great cookbook for basic, frugal recipes.


Basic Muffins

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil

Mix ingredients together; batter will be lumpy. Spoon into greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 425° for 20-25 minutes. Makes 12-15 muffins.

Jam Muffins

Fill greased muffin cups 1/4 full. Place 1 teaspoon jam on top of batter and fill with more batter until muffin cup is 2/3 full. Bake as above.