I have always loved the idea of baking. And when I finally decided to take it up seriously, I found an acute dearth of knowledge. I had to fumble all over the internet to find some actually useful information for beginners like me. Therefore, I decided to blog my findings down so that they would be able to help beginners out. Hope you find this information useful!
The first thing that you need as a baker is an oven. Now, I have baked cakes in a pressure cooker and they turned out pretty good.
And although this chocolate cake doesn't look much (due to the obvious lack of a suitably shaped baking tray), trust me, it tasted heavenly (and I'm not bragging)!
But this time, I wanted to try my hands on other types of baked goods including cookies, bread, muffins and even savoury dishes. Therefore, I decided to buy an oven. And saying this was clearly easier than actually deciding on which oven to buy. There's a saying "Too many choices can overwhelm us and cause us to not choose at all." The same almost held true in my case. I felt spoilt for choices, but I persevered and finally bought one. I'll tell you which one, but gradually.
The first choice was whether to buy a convection microwave oven or an OTG (Oven Toaster and Griller). I did a bit of research, all of which said there is apparently no difference in taste or texture between goods baked in a convection microwave oven versus those baked in an OTG. However, cooking in an OTG is considered a natural way of cooking as opposed to that in a microwave oven. Also, long term cooking in a microwave oven is not considered healthy. You can go through the link 'Why microwave oven cooking is harming your health' in order to understand better. Of course, there are different views to this. Some say that microwave ovens retain nutrients and are deemed a more healthy way of cooking. That discretion is entirely upto you.
Once the oven type was decided, it was time to move on to the more minute details. The parameters to consider here are as follows:
i. The size of the oven
ii. Rotisserie option
iii. Chamber Lighting
iv. Wattage
v. Convection Fan
I got a type 1 kind of attachment with my rotisserie rod, which is suitable for big chunks of meat like whole chicken, lamb rack etc. But I wish I had got the type 2 kind, which would be more suitable for vegetables/ paneer etc. Of course, there is a way around for everything, so I'm not too worried :). Therefore, please check the type of rotisserie rod attachment that you get with your oven.
The first thing that you need as a baker is an oven. Now, I have baked cakes in a pressure cooker and they turned out pretty good.
And although this chocolate cake doesn't look much (due to the obvious lack of a suitably shaped baking tray), trust me, it tasted heavenly (and I'm not bragging)!
But this time, I wanted to try my hands on other types of baked goods including cookies, bread, muffins and even savoury dishes. Therefore, I decided to buy an oven. And saying this was clearly easier than actually deciding on which oven to buy. There's a saying "Too many choices can overwhelm us and cause us to not choose at all." The same almost held true in my case. I felt spoilt for choices, but I persevered and finally bought one. I'll tell you which one, but gradually.
The first choice was whether to buy a convection microwave oven or an OTG (Oven Toaster and Griller). I did a bit of research, all of which said there is apparently no difference in taste or texture between goods baked in a convection microwave oven versus those baked in an OTG. However, cooking in an OTG is considered a natural way of cooking as opposed to that in a microwave oven. Also, long term cooking in a microwave oven is not considered healthy. You can go through the link 'Why microwave oven cooking is harming your health' in order to understand better. Of course, there are different views to this. Some say that microwave ovens retain nutrients and are deemed a more healthy way of cooking. That discretion is entirely upto you.
Once the oven type was decided, it was time to move on to the more minute details. The parameters to consider here are as follows:
i. The size of the oven
ii. Rotisserie option
iii. Chamber Lighting
iv. Wattage
v. Convection Fan
Size of the OTG:
Most websites tell you to choose the size of the OTG as per the number of family members. What most websites fail to tell you is that, if you are having your friends over for a get together, your small sized oven will not help. This is because smaller capacity OTGs have very less space inside, which makes it difficult even for standard sized utensils to be used in them. Therefore, I would suggest that you go for an oven somewhere in between 28-32 litres, irrespective of your small family size. Of course, if you have a fuller family, then you can go for a larger sized oven. In my case, I got a 35 litre capacity oven.
Rotisserie option:
A motorized rotisserie is a must, if at all you are planning to use one. This ensures even cooking of the kebabs being handled. Of course, a lot of people/ blogs are going to tell you that the rotisserie option is not required for vegetarian/ vegan people. But these days, there are a lot of food options cropping up. There are paneer kebabs, mushroom seekh kebab, fruit kebabs and so on. Therefore, if you are a foodie, I suggest that you definitely go for it. Just one thing to bear in mind is the type of rod that you are getting with the oven. Following are the basic 2 types:
Type 1
Type 2
I got a type 1 kind of attachment with my rotisserie rod, which is suitable for big chunks of meat like whole chicken, lamb rack etc. But I wish I had got the type 2 kind, which would be more suitable for vegetables/ paneer etc. Of course, there is a way around for everything, so I'm not too worried :). Therefore, please check the type of rotisserie rod attachment that you get with your oven.
Chamber Lighting:
It allows you to take a sneak peek inside the oven while there is something still cooking. This can be very useful when you are baking cookies, cupcakes, muffins or practically anything. It lets you see the changing colour of the food and gives you an idea of any setting changes which you might have to make.
e.g. - While baking a cake it should start turning brown atleast 12-15 minutes later. But if you see, that the cake has started browning before that, then you should turn down the heat, to let the insides cook properly without the outside of the cake burning.
Wattage:
This is a very simple feature. Higher the wattage, quicker it cooks. Not much to say here.
Convection Fan:
It is said that a convection fan circulates the heat inside the oven chamber, thus ensuring a uniformly cooked food. Also, it prevents localized heating in the oven chamber and cooks faster.
Last but not the least, what we want to keep in mind is the budget that you wish to work with. The oven that I bought, considers all the above points and it cost me around 9k INR. However, that is a slightly higher end model. I have seen equally credible results with lower end OTGs as well.
In my next post - I am going to tell you about the OTG that I bought and the experience that came with it.
Till then, Happy Baking!
Budget:
Last but not the least, what we want to keep in mind is the budget that you wish to work with. The oven that I bought, considers all the above points and it cost me around 9k INR. However, that is a slightly higher end model. I have seen equally credible results with lower end OTGs as well.
In my next post - I am going to tell you about the OTG that I bought and the experience that came with it.
Till then, Happy Baking!
