I knew the time would eventually come\u2014the time when I moved from wishing I had a bigger oven to actively searching for the thing. I was dreaming of easily baking six loaves at a time, certainly meager by a proper bakery\u2019s standards but formidable in a home kitchen. Once you move to handling larger dough quantities, you naturally yearn for the right tools to boost efficiency.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s impossible to bake large quantities of bread in a home kitchen (I know many bakers who do!), but having the right tools means I can focus on other areas of baking: flavor, fermentation, handling, and shaping. Baking larger quantities of bread in a Rofco oven in ever-increasing quantities seemed like the natural progression of my baking evolution.<\/p>\n
Those bakers who go down the path of expanding their home baking might suddenly arrive at this point through the subtle, slow takeover of an ever-increasing obsession, as in my case. Some might take it further and expand into a nano or micro-bakery; some might venture into selling at their local farmer\u2019s market. Whatever the reason behind scaling up, I\u2019ve written this guide as a single spot to outline the tools, times, temperatures, and other tips I\u2019ve found over time when using my Rofco bread oven.<\/p>\n
Also, to help others decide if a Rofco is right for them, or if they\u2019ve just purchased one, a place to learn how to start using it and, eventually, develop their process for baking bread in a Rofco oven.<\/p>\n A Rofco<\/a> is a Belgian-made brick oven designed for baking bread. It comes in various sizes, with mine being the largest option, the B40, with three square baking decks. It\u2019s a compact oven with no-nonsense construction and a sealed oven chamber. It produces minimal external radiant heat (the oven gets hot to the touch, but not so much that you can\u2019t place it close to a wall or another appliance). The three 1-3\/8\u2033 thick chamotte deck stones (refractory bricks) can retain significant heat after preheating the oven, even after opening the door and loading dough. Because the oven retains heat for hours, it\u2019s excellent at multiple back-to-back bakes with a short rest period in between to get back up to full temperature.<\/p>\n The Rofco runs off typical 220V AC single-phase power (6-20P cord plug, 6-20R receptacle), similar to what other appliances run on in most US homes. I had an electrician come out to my house to install a new receptacle and breaker in my home breaker box, specifically for the oven.<\/p>\n When baking bread in a Rofco oven, I\u2019ve baked large-scale batches for festivals, parties, and other large gatherings, but I also use it most often to bake 4-6 loaves. The oven is efficient and convenient. It\u2019s a bare-bones workhorse that does exactly what you need when you need it.<\/p>\n I purchased my oven from Pleasant Hill Grain in the US, which always has exceptional service. They\u2019ve been incredibly responsive when I\u2019ve emailed for questions about the oven and even when I\u2019ve had a minor issue with one of the door clasps. (Full disclosure: I received a discount from PHG on this oven, but this guide is written without their involvement or any expectation\u2014all the information here is my own.)<\/p>\n To state this right away: yes, I love the Rofco bread oven! It\u2019s a fantastic little (though not all that little) oven for anyone looking to bake bread beyond just two loaves in the home oven. Its simple design, easy-to-repair components, and even baking make it a wonderful oven for any home\u2014or professional\u2014bread baker.<\/p>\n This is a bit like a game of real-life Tetris: how do we bake the most amount of dough without it touching while still achieving an even bake? Because I don\u2019t bake at a large scale very often, I\u2019ve not pushed the boundaries of this, but I know some bakers who have this down to a science. Below are the three most common dough arrangements for the baking I do here at home, with the far left (2 x 900g batard per deck) being my most common baking scenario.<\/p>\n Note that ovals represent my typical batard shape<\/a>, circles represent boules<\/a>, and each deck is sized 18.9\u2033 x 18.9\u2033 in the Rofco B40. The top edge of each square in the diagram is the back<\/em> of the oven, and the bottom edge is the front<\/em> of the oven with the door.<\/p>\n Using the included square steel trays, you can fit several smaller buns, rolls, and even a large square pizza. I prefer to use these trays when making other goods besides bread; they make transferring many small items to the oven easier and contain spills.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve mentioned in my other steaming guides<\/a>, steaming the oven at the beginning of baking is incredibly important for ensuring your bread dough rises to its full potential. One of the benefits of the Rofco is that the oven chamber is completely sealed, with no exhaust fan or place for steam to escape (until you open the two front vents). However, here is where the oven falls short of other professional bread ovens: there\u2019s no steam injection at the press of a button. However, there are many ways to manually inject sufficient steam into the oven to ensure your bread rises properly.<\/p>\n Recommended reading: <\/em><\/strong>How to Steam a Home Oven for Bread Baking<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n My preferred method for steaming the oven is using\u00a0a commercial-grade pressure sprayer<\/a>\u00a0(see the\u00a0<\/span>Tools section in this post). First, I set the sprayer to the finest mist possible at the nozzle tip and ensure it\u2019s filled with water. Then, I pump the sprayer to pressurize and load my dough. Starting with the bottom deck, I spray in and around for about 10-12 seconds. Then, I move up and do the same for the bottom and top decks.<\/p>\n When doing the top deck, avoid the glass-enclosed light fixture, as the glass will crack if hit with water (mine cracked long ago). After spraying the top deck, grab the door with the other hand, and just before closing completely, spray a second coat on each deck, then shut the door.<\/p>\n When I want to vent the steam in the oven, I\u2019ll carefully open the door (steam will rush out at you, so give it a second to escape before looking in), close it, and then tilt the circular vents in the door to their open position (as seen in the image above).<\/p>\n The optional rectangular steam pods are long, steel rectangular boxes placed on the left and right sides of each deck and designed to be preheated in the oven. When you want to steam, pour water (or ice cubes) into the boxes, shut the oven door, and watch as steam fills the oven. These pods work very well, but they take up valuable space on each deck\u2019s side.<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible to create quite a bit of steam with these pods, and I use them periodically to test, but I\u2019ve found I need every inch on each deck, so I stick to using the pressure sprayer.<\/p>\n When I want to vent the steam from the oven, all the water in the pods has evaporated, and I\u2019ll open the two circular vents in the door.<\/p>\n I\u2019m constantly modifying the baking process in the Rofco oven, continually tweaking times, and temperatures, and changing small parts of the process here and there. I do find that different doughs require different baking parameters, but the following is my go-to process for most formulas.<\/p>\n Turn the left knob to control the top heating element and turn the right knob to control the bottom heating element. The left and right light turn on when the left and\/or the right heating element is active, respectively.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n To turn the oven on first, be sure it\u2019s empty inside (don\u2019t make the mistake of leaving the silicone sheets inside!) and turn both left and right dials to 240\u00b0C. I preheat for 1.5 hours to ensure the bricks are thoroughly saturated with heat. <\/p>\n Once preheated, I lay my pizza peel (see Tools below) on a table next to the oven, with one silicone sheet on top, and place the other two sheets in an assembly line next to the peel. Then, gently turn out your dough to each sheet, score each loaf, and start with the sheet on the peel; slide it off the peel into the oven. Then take the peel, slide it under the next sheet, and continue down the line, loading the oven.<\/p>\n From there, I perform the following steps to bake:<\/p>\n![\"dough](\"https:\/\/www.theperfectloaf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/theperfectloaf-baking-bread-rofco-oven-7.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nWhat is a Rofco Bread Oven?<\/h2>\n
<\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/noscript><\/a><\/figure>\nReal Quick: Do I Recommend The Rofco Bread Oven?<\/h2>\n
How to Best Position Dough on Decks<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/figure>\nSteaming the Rofco<\/h2>\n
High-Pressure Sprayer<\/h3>\n
Steam Pods<\/h3>\n
<\/figure>\nBaking Bread in a Rofco Oven: Start to Finish<\/h2>\n
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