Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I recently had to replace my double ovens and after doing what I thought was a good bit of research, I decided on a Bosch. It had a number of good reviews, including Consumer Reports, and was among the more economical models. (Somehow 'economical' doesn't ring true with a $2,000 purchase:).

After using it for a few weeks, I felt sure it had temperature issues. I had thermometers in both of them and it seemed like they took forever to achieve the right temp and stay at it. So I had a warranty service call and the guy calibrated the ovens and said he thought that would take care of it. He also said that the typical oven thermometer (like the CI-recommended Cooper Adkins) is very slow to register temp changes, so basically they were giving me the wrong impression.

I didn't see much improvement, so went to Sears and bought a meter that precisely indicates temperature (same one the tech used), and took measurements on several occasions with start temps ranging from 350-450. Although the ovens now do get up to the proper temp after a fairly long preheat, when the door is opened even for just 5 seconds to put in the pan or dish, the temp drops about 80 degrees and then takes a minimum of 20 minutes to get back up to the set temperature. And that's without opening the door again to turn the pan.

So obviously this is an issue, especially considering that when baking biscuits or something that doesn't require more than 20 minutes to bake, the temperature of the oven never even gets back to the actual set temperature before they're supposed to be done. And then of course when baking many other things, just when the temp. finally gets back to the set temperature, it's time to open the oven to rotate cake pans, etc., and then it drops again.

I called the service place today and got a return message from the technician saying "With those types of ovens, it takes that long for them to come back." I asked that he call me back and give me more details, but I'm assuming when he says "those types," he's referring to the lower-end models as opposed to a Wolf or Viking. But maybe not.

So I'm just wondering if any of you equipment experts might have some insight into if that's really the case. It's extremely frustrating, as I had GE wall ovens for 10 years that never performed satisfactorily and drove me crazy, and I really scrimped and saved to get these new ones that, in reality, aren't all that much better so far. I know you get what you pay for, but it just seems crazy to me that a 20 minute temp recovery would be considered acceptable for any reliable model.

Thanks!

Emilie

I wonder how many recipes were written in ignorance about this. Most of us put stuff in the oven at a certain temp and take it out when it's done, without checking the temp every moment. If your ovens don't do what you want them to, that's a problem. But if my oven has been dropping 50 degrees when I put in a tray of cookies and they bake just fine in the set time frame, then oven performance has been built into the recipe. I work with recipes that were written down in the Middle Ages, and their cooking conditions were wildly variable, so you are often told to cook until the dish is done.
And in commercial bakeries there are carousel ovens when the temp changes from shelf to shelf and is only reached as an average as the shelves rotate through the hot spots and out again.
Again, if your ovens are bothering you, that should be addressed. I'm just curious about how we assume that if the dial says the oven is a certain temp., then it is that temp, when it may not be. And yet our baked goods get baked.

Yes, Becky, you're right. It makes sense for the primary indicator to be if the food is done within the stated time frame, rather than just a temperature reading. In the case of these ovens, it is typically taking longer for the food to cook/brown than stated in recipes or my experience with that particular dish. That's what made me suspect a problem in the first place. (Although I admit that, for better or worse, I lean to the 'exacting' side of cooking, rather than eyeballing things/winging it on timing, etc. Having every recipe in weight measurements instead of volume and a perfectly calibrated oven sounds like heaven to me:) Thanks for your reply!

Emilie
My wall ovens are Bosch (about 11 years old) and what I have found is that most of my baking and roasting is done before the cooking time in the recipe. When I use the convection mode, I decrease the temp in a recipe by 25-50 degrees and start checking for doneness much earlier. When I am not using convection, I find things still get done faster than most recipes call for. I have not calibrated the ovens and have just learned to monitor them sooner than I would normally.
I am not sure this is helpful, but I guess what I am saying is, in time you will learn the idiosyncracies( sp?)of your ovens and how to work with them.
ilene

Here's something interesting we noted in our restaurant kitchen. We are only open "in season" for our market (winter and summer), and do a major clean-up of the restaurant after closing at the beginning of April and then again mid-October. This includes getting all of the baked-on carbon out of the ovens (the most used ovens being two double-deckers having four racks each). We get these babies really, really clean. But then, when we start to use them at the beginning of the next season, it seems everything cooks/bakes a lot faster. We actually reduce oven temps on certain things to account for this. The hypothesis is that all of the carbon build-up in the ovens inhibits the heat. And, I've found oven recovery is moderately different depending upon carbon build-up, but don't base anything on this...these are commercial ovens.

It's possible (to some extent) that recipe writers are using either sparkling clean or heavily carboned ovens, and this affects the way they write a recipe.

Just a thought...

Amy

Emilie,

Welcome to the board, btw.

What's the warranty on the new oven? I'd say return it. For that kind of performance, you could have got a $500 kenmore or GE oven. And frankly, the tech is gonna jerk you around until you start talking return.

I agree that for $2k you should be happy with your ovens. If not, return them.

I have never checked to see how hot my cheap Whirlpool oven is after opening the door, but stuff eventually bakes and it's even, so I can't complain. I hate the fugly thing but can't justify a replacement yet.

Welcome to the board.

If I were you, I would check out this site and ask the same questions.

http://www.justanswer.com/sip/Bosch-Appliances/?r=ppc|ga|2|HI+%2D+Appliances|Bosch+%2D+1&JPKW=bosch%20temperature&JPDC=S&JPST=&JPAD=8775001018&JPAF=txt&JPCD=20110428&JPRC=1&JPOP=Cass_AnswersToday_Answers&gclid=CJun-YLzlKkCFRDPKgodV1GZdw

I think you are getting the run around from you service technician.

I agree, if the ovens are taking that long to recover after a simple door opening, they need repair or replacement. $2K is a lot of money for poor preformance.

Welcome aboard! Laurie

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I'd been waiting to hear back from a guy who helped us with appliance repairs in the past (someone who works for an appliance company and does that on the side), and he called back last night. He said he thought it sounded like too long, but didn't have a definitive opinion. So I'm going to see what the justanswer site has to say and then I'll call the Bosch repair people again. The service tech never called me back last week, so that's not a good sign as far as their responsiveness. We'll see.

Thanks again!

Emilie