THE BAKER'S SECRET - A GOOD OVEN Every oven has its own peculiarities, and bakers learn, usually by error and trial, how to work with the challenges presented by the ovens that bake their bread. Typically, the hottest place in the oven is the bottom, with the heat rising up the sides, across the top (next hottest), and down into the middle. The evenest heat is in the middle. Modern gas and electric stoves have thermostatic controls but most thermostats have a wide range between their on and off temperatures. When you preheat to 400°F, the burner goes on high, and heats the oven to 500°F. Then the thermostat registers, and the big burner goes off, leaving a tiny "holding flame". Gradually the temperature goes down to 400°F. You put nthe bread in with efficient speed because you know that leaving the door open causes loss of heat. Even so, the inside temperature descends to 350°F. The relatively cold loaves further cool it to 300°F, and the thermostat registers. The burner blasts on again, raising the inside temperature to 450°F. Because of its very uneven heat, a "flashy" oven like this bakes poorly. If your oven performs this way, try to preheat well, and be sure to put the bread in when the temperature is UP. This is one place where an oven thermometer is useful: let it help you chart the pattern of your thermostat's ons and offs. One way to even out the oven heat is by putting quarry tile on the bottom rack. These are clay tiles about 6 inches square and 3/8 inch thick, which you can get cheaply at any building supply store. Nine of them would do the trick for most small household ovens. Be sure to allow at least 2 inches between the sides of the oven and the tiles so that the rising heat can circulate. Preheat for at least half an hour to get the tiles hot. Since they hold the heat, if your oven is insulated well, it will use less energy to maintain the timperature, so the extra preheating, shouldn't mean much extra fuel. With theBosch Universal Plus-made bread, I prefer to heat the oven to the lowest temperature (on my oven it is 170°F) and then turn the oven off and place the bread pans with the dough in them, in the oven to rise for approx. 1/2 hour. I then turn the oven up to 375°F and let the oven come up to a hotter temperature with the bread in the oven. In the 5 to 10 min. it takes the oven to get to 375°F, the yeast will continue to rise until it dies and I get higher bread. (I call this bread spring) Once the oven reaches the set temperature the yeast has died and bread has already started to bake. I find we get a nice even bake to the bread after 1/2 hour baking with as little energy spent. Given that no oven is perfect, do what you can to use the one you have to best advantage. For example, the thermostat on the top of the oven should be allowed to do its job: let the heat reach it. Don't use an 18 inch cookie sheet in an 18 inch oven: the heat will be trapped below, the bottom will burn and the top will never get hot. Allow at least 2 inches around the edges, and 1 inch between whatever loaves you have inside. Since a lot of heat is lost when the door is opened, arrange the rack before you turn on the oven ( I like the bread to be right in the middle of the oven so I put both racks on the bottom two rungs and the bread goes on the upper-most one)--and allow an extra five minutes of baking time for each opeing of the door. Never open the door during the first 15 minutes of baking. Only use one rack to bake the bread so never try to do buns on a higher or lower rack at the same time as you are baking the bread. Again the circulation of heat will not allow either rack to bake properly. Another tip: black pans or cookie sheets concentrate heat, making things brown fast where they touch, so never use them on the bottom rack. Convection Ovens: For breadmaking, the convection oven has the advantage of recovering very quickly, the heat lost when the door is opened; for this reason, loaves should have a fuller proof than those baked in a normal oven. The heat is very dry, though, and if the dough is soft, and even slightly OVERproofed, a charateristic long tubelike hole may form just under the crust. Slashing the loaf before you put it in the oven will help, but being careful not to overproof is the best protection. I have found that when using a convection oven, that you will get better results with breadmaking by lowering the temperature 25°F from the baking temperature suggested in the recipe and also removing the bread about 5 minutes earlier for each 1/2 hour of baking time. So in other words the convection ovens will bake slightly faster than regular conventional ovens. I have also found that you can get more bread in a convection oven, since the air circulation is helped by the fan so 2 levels of bread pans can be baked at one time. Happy baking! 
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