1626

The Anova Precision Oven does a great job as a proofing oven. Wasn’t something we planned on when we got it, but it’s been awesome once we realized it.

1627

Don’t tempt me. I really want one but don’t have anywhere to put it. I guess I could replace the toaster oven and get a regular toaster. I would miss the broiler though. I have a real oven for that, but it’s usually overkill for what I need.

1628

So that worked wonders. Easily my most airy, best tasting bread yet. Thanks again for the idea @stusser and @skipper!

1629

You know you have to post pics.

1630

Hey you gave ME the idea. I’ve never proofed with water in the oven. Just in warmer spots. I’ve gotta try the oven proofing method.

1631

Not a chance, this was my ugliest loaf yet as well. I was working and in meeting but I wanted to get it in the oven. I was rushing and didn’t flour the knife for the scores…

But you said I probably needed more proofing time or a warmer environment. Temperature of my proofing environment seemed to be the issue, so thanks!

1633

No worries at all and trust me, I’m stealing the same idea.

1634

For what it’s worth, I always proof my bread in my oven with just the oven light on… I find that appliance bulb makes it just warm enough for a good rise, and I’m always pretty happy with my bread.

That said, one of these days I’ll have to try the hot water method just to see if the extra humidity makes a noticeable difference in quality!

1635

I’m looking for a griddle. Nothing fancy, a simple slab of metal that covers two burners and also works on the grill is plenty. This is what I’m leaning towards:

Any other recommendations/models to consider?

1636

Weirdly, ATK just did a video on this.

1637

My man. I’ll give it a watch tonight, thanks!

1638

ATK is the bomb diggity!

1639

We got a Quisinart Stainless double burner griddle a while back. We had to get stainless due to having an induction stove, which has paired induction burners on the left side just for that purpose (if you link them.) It’s nice to have but even with induction, there are hotter and colder points within the griddle when you use it. If you can work with that and are okay with it, go for it. If you can’t work with varying hotter/cooler zones on a larger flat surface, skip it and get one single burner griddle instead.

For us, the hotter sections usually have bacon going, while the cooler sections are great for eggs or slowly warming/browning bread. As something gets cooked, you push it towards the in-between section of the burners. The same with hotcakes, you can flip and stack them in that middle area as a method of keeping them warm while the rest get made.

If I were to rate the Quisinart model, it’s not bad. It’s semi-weighty, meaning lighter than my cast iron skillets, but heavier than a stainless saucepan. When ours is out, it ends up becoming used multiple times in a row because it fits so well on the stovetop it becomes part of it. You certainly don’t have to link and use both burners at once either, making it something akin to a graduated cooktop where you can push things to be slightly warm while cooking on the hotter end. Ours is non-stick and it’s a bit TOO non-stick at times, getting kind of slippery to get eggs on things if there is too much grease on the cooktop. I wish it was deeper as well since you can get spatter out the sides of it a bit too easily. Being weighty isn’t really as much of an issue for these things, they stay put, you don’t want them sliding around like a typical cooking vessel on the stove.

If you truly want even temps, or closer to that, you need something with a lot of thermal capacity, which means weighty. Or, you want something like a Blackstone grill/griddle, where the entire device is made that way, or a stovetop that has the same.

1640

When I was a kid my mother had a thick aluminum one. Sucker was heavy. As I got older I realized that I wanted to inherit it. It was that good. One day I was looking for it to make pancakes. She said that she threw it away, it took up too much space in the cabinet.

1641

I have a 25 or so lb baking steel that is reversible with a griddle and troughs around the edges. Takes a long time to heat up on a gas stove but seems fairly uniform once it’s up to temperature.

1642

They do take a lot of space. We have that 1ft or so of above cabinet unused space so we store ours on the cabinet above the stove, on top.

This is one of the advantages to our induction cooktop. It’s VERY quick to heat a pot/pan/griddle. Still, anywhere not directly above the electromagnetic induction point is just like the same on gas or electric, it takes longer to heat due to the need for the heat to spread within the cooking vessel.

1643

The directions for this baking steel are to put your oven at 500, and wait a freaking hour for the baking steel to reach temp. It’s kinda nuts, but it’s a huge heat battery.

Does this article ring true you? I don’t own any induction gear (but would love some!). Maybe it depends on the exact makeup of the griddle in question.

https://www.chefsteps.com/forum/posts/steeliron-griddles-and-induction-dont-mix

1644

The heaviest thing I have is a large cast iron skillet. Nothing like that 25 lb baking steel. My skillet heats up much quicker than it did on electric, but I never had a gas cooktop with it so don’t know the comparison from that.

But suffice to say that since induction heats directly above the induction coils into the vessel, it would be hottest there, and any number of shades of not-as-hot outside of that, which kind of negates the big old wide steel in the first place. It’s equivalent to the double burner griddle we use. The coil circles are close to each other, and there are line, “runner” coils between the two circles, but the hottest parts are above the concentrated circular coil areas.

If any of you get an induction cooktop, make sure the location on the cooktop where you want to cook the MOST has the largest coil area. As an example, we have one oversized coil and it’s the front left burner. That will always be the best place on the stovetop for bigger vessels. Putting a large skillet/saucepan on a smaller coil would mean only that smaller diameter would heat the most.

This gives an example, this is water boiling in a skillet on an induction hob.

image

1645

I did. I am sad now. :(

1646

I bought one of the baking steel griddles. It was a terrible purchase because the lack of sides means it makes a huge mess.

My wife discovered this website the other day. These are neat because they come in different sizes (including custom), the thicker style can be used with pots/pans directly on top, and they make cutting boards that fit directly on top when not in use. And they have sides!