Baking Bread in a Toaster Oven
So we got a toaster oven. The primary motivation was that I like to make biscuits and gravy, but preheating the big oven takes way too long. Plus I wanted to bake little one-day loaves of bread some mornings, with the same problem.
But always wanting to push the limits, I also wanted to try a larger loaf in the toaster oven. This is actually half the size I usually make, but it’s about the limit of the size of boule I’d make in a toaster oven. Too much bigger and the top will burn.
Here are more pictures of the process. I moved a couple of tiles from the big oven to the toaster oven to make a nice baking stone, and I preheated the toaster oven. Then I put the bread in (conveniently on parchment paper, though in the future I think I’ll trim the parchment paper for better convection airflow). There is noticeable oven spring, and it was fun to have such a clear view of it. Eventually it started to brown, and when I figured it should be about done I took it out. I found that it had actually browned quite a bit more in the back than in the front—maybe some tinfoil on the door next time to aid the radiation? The crust was a bit boring, but that may have been partially due to my using a slightly drier dough than I usually do. In any case, the crumb was as good as ever and the experiment was a success. As in the large oven, I definitely recommend some sort of stone setup though.
A few more experiments will be needed to know for sure, but it’s possible that the close quarters will help in the steam department. However, it’s a convection oven and I’m not sure whether that would counter any steam tendencies. As I said, this loaf was a bit drier than usual, so more tests are in order. Incidentally, I had a loaf in the dutch oven come out with the same boring crust the other day, and I think the hydration was about the same as with this loaf.
As for biscuits, it works great. I turn it down slightly from the called-for temperature but otherwise there’s nothing to it.
February 15th, 2008 at 06:33
I have baked muffins out of our oven toaster. Haha it’s fun. It’s a bit more fulfilling because the toaster it’s smaller but the product’s bigger.
May 17th, 2008 at 07:59
Would you mind sharing your toaster-oven biscuit recipe and the temp? I know ovens vary in temps (mine gets hot) but I can’t find a good biscuit recipe which works in my toaster oven. I don’t like waiting for the big oven to reach temp (takes a long time) when I want biscuits. As for your bread being browner at back, I believe it’s fairly common for TO’s to get hotter on one side (front to back) than on other. Have read about that issue a number of times online. Some dishes can be rotated halfway through to compensate. Not sure this would work with bread unless you’re nimble quick and don’t lose much heat in the process.
May 17th, 2008 at 08:04
What I usually do for biscuits is use Bisquick. I have done it from scratch using AB’s recipe, though I don’t remember if I’ve cooked those in a toaster oven.
For 4 biscuits I do 112g Bisquick and 45g milk. I don’t roll and cut them, I just do “drop” biscuits (shape them by hand). Then I bake at 400°F in my convection toaster oven (on bake), which I usually preheat for a couple of minutes (but I didn’t this morning).
The color isn’t quite the same as in a regular oven (hard to describe), but they taste fine.
May 17th, 2008 at 21:15
Thanks much. I will give those a try. My TO is also convection, so I’ll start with temp you used and see how that goes. I have not yet tried making breads, even quickbreads in the TO. Your bread came out looking quite good. I have Lynn Alley’s “The Gourmet Toaster Cookbook,” which has a number of bread recipes in it and happily, she used a convection TO to test the recipes. The Artisan Whole Wheat-Walnut Loaf looks especially good. But first, I want biscuits. ;-)