Fan in the oven. Huh?

[Chopstix]

My gas oven (a hand-me-down) has a fan inside. (I actually discovered this after I heard something churning inside the oven long after I had turned it off. I found out about the fan only then. Guess I pressed the Fan ON button accidentally.) There was no surviving user manual that came with the oven.

So, here's my stupid question -- when do I use this fan and what for? Thanks!

 

[Michael in FtW]

Don't know what kind of oven you have or how old it is .. but that sounds like "maybe" a convection oven to me - lucky you!

If the fan circulates the air within the oven while your baking, roasting, etc. - that is great! You can use it just about all the time. It just circulates the hot air in the oven for more even cooking - that's a very good thing.

 

[Chopstix]

Duhhh! I was kinda suspecting this but just wasn't sure. Thanks Michael!

 

[Ardge]

Hey Chop, I'm stopping over to your place to bake bread. Cool?

RJ

 

[Chopstix]

Sure Ardge! C'mon over! I'm just on the opposite side of the world from you! A short hop. No excuses for being late!

 

[Haggis]

Just remember when you use a convection oven you made need to adjust both cooking temperature and cooking time.

 

[pst1can]

Our last oven I bought a gas range with a convection oven (fan in oven as you are describing) and you will find that your cooking times can be asdjusted as much as 30%less. Also on delicate cakes and pastries you must sometimes be aware that you do not want to use you fan excessively as sometimes they suffer from what I can best descibe as "wind burn" (only delicate, high butter content items)