Portable ovens

[pengyou]

I have a rather large portable oven - portable meaning that it is not built into the wall. There may be other words to describe it. It looks like a big microwave. It is 65 liters - a little bit smaller than the standard oven included in trac homes in the U.S.

It has a good heating element up and down - serpentine vs. 2 straight rods and is a convection oven. Still, I have baked long enough to know that it does not bake the same way as a built in oven. It is all sheet metal - I think there is little to provide thermal mass, and am guessing that the lack of thermal mass is a problem. If I placed a thin slab of stone under the bottom heating element and on top of the top heating element do you think this would provide some benefit? Things just don't brown as nicely in the stand alone/portable ovens as even the cheap builtin ovens that I have used.

Any suggestions?

 

[Rocket_J_Dawg]

Would you have a pic you could post? I am having trouble picturing what a "portable oven" might look like. I guess our "oven" with the burners on top could be considered portable, as it's not built in to the wall. But it cooks just as well as the built in models.

 

[Rocklobster]

It might help. One word of caution, though, most oven manufacturers warn against putting anything into an oven like that. I have researched this a bit because I moved to an apartment and the oven sucks, so I was looking to do a few modifications myself. Heat can get redirected or trapped in places you may not realize until it is too late. It could cause problems like damaging the oven, or just burning the crap out of what you are cooking. . I would stay close and watch it. You never know what may happen.

 

[pengyou]

It looks very much like a microwave - maybe should call it a free standing oven.

 

[Jing]

From that angle, it looks like a big toaster oven or a Breville? (sp)

 

[Dawgluver]

That's my thought too, Jing.

 

[pengyou]

yes, exactly, a big toaster oven

 

[Mad Cook]

yes, exactly, a big toaster oven

Just a thought. Have you checked the oven's temperatures? It might be worth buying an inexpensive little oven thermometer which sits on/hangs from the shelf. Mine (bought in the UK) was made in China so I would assume that you can buy them there.

If you then find there is a discrepancy between the oven thermostat's temperature and the actual temp you can jiggle the setting that you use.

This is the sort of thing I mean:-

 

[Dawgluver]

Though I have no research to back it up, my gut tells me I would hesitate to put anything over or under the heating elements. My Breville toaster oven does a nice job of browning, does yours have a broil setting?

 

[upons1977]

Suggestions:
(1) Check the instruction and see if you are using the proper rack position for different foods.
(2) Buy an oven thermometer as Mad Cook mentioned to know the exact temperature during its working since some of the toaster ovens do not output accurate heat at the temperature it is set to be.
(3) Try some accessories, such as backing sheets, pizza stones, etc for better even results.