Bake Better: USA vs EU Ovens | Why Your Recipes Flops? | Foodgeek 

I am in North America and would never own a gas oven or stove for the simple reason that only one heat location, either at the top or the bottom, has limitations so I've never had the problems that Helen and Sine list. Electric ovens in NA all have two heat sources, one on the top and one on the bottom therefore has all of the benefits of Helen and Sine ovens put together.

I moved from the US to Europe, and yeah my oven has been a mystery to me. So this video is extremely useful to me!

Thank you so much for all your videos, especially this one. We have a relatively new Monogram oven and I definitely learned some new things about it. Also, please know that your updated sourdough recipe is my standard, but your jalapeño cheddar is the one we use for special occasions.

So happy to see you back and sorry for all your troubles. I look forward to new content. Thanks.

Sorry to hear you've been in the wars. Best of luck with the job hunting. You are one of my 3 best bread baking inspirations! Your bagels and pizza dough are my staples, and your methods I learned from your channel at the beginning of my sourdough route still hold today. Take care of yourself.

Interesting video!! I recently got a new oven with convection. It’s electric and it does give the option of the oven automatically lowering the temperature when using convection, but it allows that feature to be turned off. It’s written in the manual - I am an instruction manual reader but have found that a surprisingly large number of people do NOT read their manuals. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m in Alaska/USA, so the convection is new to me but I am liking it a lot. I am praying your would completely heals and that you find the perfect job. I’ve learned a lot from you and appreciate all the knowledge you have shared with the world.

Great video. Confirmed many theories i had already. Have just bought a new Bosch oven which is far more advanced than previous model. Looking forward to discovering it's potential. The first think i noticed is it heats up a lot faster 😊

All the Canadian ovens I have owned over 30 years have a top oven element and it does come on when baking. In fact, I have to protect top of loaf when baking bread to prevent burning. Many American ovens now come with hidden lower element.

My 6 year old Samsung convection gas oven in USA has a bread proofing mode “Bread proof provides an optimal temperature for the bread proofing process” in addition to dehydrating modes. Also the max temp is 550 F which is not 288 C which is very close to 300 C. It also has two sections that can be converted into a single section so I can easily cook two trays at the same time.

I just baked the best spring sourdough loaf in my dual blaze cosori air fryer. Wow impressed . 275 grm flour so smaller loaf but wow.

Poor Helen just remodeled her kitchen, and now she's got to get a new oven. Helen's "woha" reaction when Sune says his oven goes to 30C was amazing!

Nice to see you back! I have made a number of your recipes and they have all turned out great in my US oven. Your Danish rye is now a delicious staple in our household. The only problem I had was figuring out the correct size pan. After I got the large USA Pullman pan it turned out perfectly and baked per your instructions in 70 minutes.

Two of my favorite YT creators! A real treat. I’m so glad to know that you’re going to be alright Sune. Your videos are the best, I know you’ll achieve your full time dream. Ok, my issue with American ovens is that I have never found one that is anywhere near affordable that allows me to bake with/without convection. Anyone have a recommendation?

The heater in the fan is referred to as "true convection" whereas just a fan is a fan oven. Many of the newer stoves in N.America now have the hidden element on the bottom. My Kitchenaid convection oven 25 years ago had that. My newer GE Induction stove does as well. It also allows you to pour water on the bottom to either do a simple clean with steam or to steam the food. Both the top and bottom elements come on during regular baking but I think only the fan element comes on during convection baking. The older Kitchenaid had a convection roast feature which turned the fan on during broiling top element only so you didn't have to have the oven door propped open. I heard many UK stoves have their elements on the sides.

Glad you're recovering well and good luck with the job search! I keep sending people to your videos. :)

I too have the Breville Pro. I like this very much because most of the time we cook for only two - but it is large enough to bake casseroles or shepherd's pie for 6-8 and cooks very evenly for bread and cake and muffins. What I like most is that in the hot and humid summers in my region I can carry it out onto my screened deck and cook outdoors - and my kitchen and dining rooms remain cooler! Energy use is very efficient too. I have found that using baking tiles also works well to stabilize heat - especially when making pizza in cast iron pans

Glad to hear that you are recovering. Wish you all the best in job hunting. Du er en af ​​de mennesker, jeg lærte så meget om bagning af. Dine videoer er værdsat. Jeg ser frem til fremtidige afsnit.

So glad to see you back, Sune! I missed you and I confess my sourdough missed you too, since I haven't been baking as much while you weren't out there inspiring me. (But, yes, it's still alive!) Fortsæt med at helbrede, Sunes tå!

this was an amazingly educational video!! i’m so jealous of eu ovens, i need to order one cause omg so many options lol. much love from florida

Plenty in the USA like crispy/crunchy cookies. Personally I despise all the soft cookies on the market in the last 20 some years. My mother never made soft cookies and in 50+ years I've never intentially made soft cookies. But still lots of crunchy mass market stuff like oreo and the original chip ahoy.

The most frustrating thing about our giant American ovens is the venting. That's why we're all forced to use Dutch ovens to trap steam. Also, the temperatures swing wildly. You would be shocked if you place a probe in your oven and chart the results (experiment time Sune). BTW, true convection ovens should feature a heating element that surrounds the fan to provide circulated heat only. No direct radiational heat from open upper/lower elements.

Thank you for this Sune.. Hope life takes a turn for better soon for you..

About oven calibration: when I bought a new oven, I noticed that the bread didn’t get as much colour in the same baking time. I bought a thermometer that I put in the oven and it turned out that the new oven was fairly exact, so it must have been the old oven that became hotter than the set temperature. The thermometer cost about 15€, but it was well worth it.

American here. I have a pretty cheap oven/range unit with almost no features. The range controls are manual, but the oven controls are digital. It's in no way obvious from the panel, but there's a calibration mode that can be turned on through some combination of button presses. It's been a while since I messed with it, but I think I can adjust it something like +/- 30F from the factory baseline in 5 degree increments. Don't stop at the Quick Start guides that come with all appliances these days, check your full user manuals, or see if there are repair manuals from the manufacturer. If you've got a manual temperature setting, pull the knob off! It might have an adjustment mechanism on the back.

I just watched your conversation about the differences between ovens in the USA and in Europe. One of my hobbies is all about kitchen appliances and I really love your bulky ranges. So it´s interesting for me to see all the differences between USA and European Stoves/ Wallovens. Whenever I bake an American recipe, it turns out very well. Maybe it`s because I almost only use the upper and lower heating element for baking. My oven also has a true (European) convection with it`s own ring-heatingelement around the fan. In Germany it`s called Heißluft. Some of the cheaper entry models only use the heat from the top and bottom heatingelement and the fan at the rear only distributes the hot air in the cavity. That`s what we call Umluft. For my oven the diagram with the convectionfan and the bottom heating element means that you get the hot air from the convection fan and the additional heat from the bottom heating element. It´s recommended for pies and tartes. The heat is so strong that it is not necessary to prebake tart shells. By using this mode your pies and tartes always get a crunchy bottom. The oven also has a steam function. This function allows you to give up to three bursts of steam into the cavity while baking. With my oven, sous vide is not possible. The steam slowly disappears while baking. The steam function only helps not to dry out the baking goods and makes a wonderful crust for breads. Even a marble-cake is wonderful juicy. It´s also recommended for proofing dough at between 68 °F and 104° F. There are some other models on the market which are a combination about a Steamer and a regular oven. These you can use for sous-vide. Depending on the mode you have chosen, the steam either stays in the cavity all the time or disappears slowly. Preheating up to 360 °F takes around 7 Minutes by using the fast-preheat mode. In this mode, every available heating element is on. Normal preheating only uses the top and bottom heating element or the convection fan- depending on the mode you have chosen. My oven has two baking sheets and one rack and by using the convection mode, you can use them at the same time. You can bake on three tiers. The baking sheets from my old oven are smaller than from my new one. I can put them on the rack but I could not slide them directly in the cavity. Every single mode has a preprogrammed temperature if you turn the oven on. So it can happen that, if you turn from bake to convection, the temperate setting is different. Of course you can change to the temperature you like and you also can change the preprogrammed settings. Our recipebooks mostly give the temperatures for conventional bake and for convection. Usually the temp for convection is around 20 degrees less than for conventional bake. In some cases depending on what you are going to bake, some recipes are giving recommendations about using convection or conventional bake. So far as I know, german ovens cannot be calibrated if the temp is not precise. The modern german ovens offer a lot of different options. Most of them I haven’t used by now. For me baking and cooking means that I decide what to do and when to do. All the automatic features I personally don`t like in exception of the temperature probe for taking the internal temperature of my roast. So, this was my comment to your conversation and I hope It`s understandable despite of my not so well spoken English. Greetings from Berlin. Stephan

Electric ovens can be calibrated at home. Well, "calibrated" may not be the right word, but they do have the ability to change the temperature setting of the oven. Your owner's manual will tell you how. They generally have a range of plus or minus some amount from the factory setting, like maybe 25 or 30 degrees Fahrenheit up or down, in usually 5 degree increments. So, if your oven is off by some amount, you can adjust it. You'll have to use your own oven thermometer, or some other temperature checking device to compare what your oven is doing to what it says it is doing, then make the necessary change.

Thanks!

Recipes if not stated is without convection in Sweden as in US. I usually lower the heat by 25C ~77F when using convection. I have an old oven, I think about 20 years old, with convection and it blows uneven so a pan of french fries will be scorched on the right side of the pan if I do not turn the pan around. I'm a trained chef and we had the same problem with professional grade ovens when I last worked in a kitchen some 7 years ago, if they where not from the brand Rational. Rational, is German brand of ovens, are far ahead and the best I have ever encountered. You can dial in the % relative humidity and have total control. They also make small ones so one could use them in ones home kitchen, but they are pricey so I think they would be overkill for a lot of people.

Helen's oven is particularly limited because its gas. Even moderately priced American electric ovens now have a lot of the European features shown here. The cheapest electric ovens (anything under $1000, maybe) work like Helen's, of course.

One of my frustrations with my American oven is that I can't stop steam from escaping. This necessitates a Dutch oven when baking sourdough. Which means I'm only parbaking one loaf at a time. 🙄

I'm in the Southern US and I have an oven that has a convection button on it that turns the fan on. I use that setting the most. I'm not sure if there is a heating element at the bottom only. The heating element is hidden under the metal like you said yours was.

I put a .pan of water on the lowest rack. If I use the convection fan, l lower the oven temperature 25F. I have a Wolf wall oven. This oven has a proof function of 80F. I use it for a third proof for my bread. I also have Wolf convection oven. Western 13:02 Canada is where I live

Thank you.

I live in the UK and and miss how high domestic ovens in Sweden go...

My oven in México has 4 gas marks (and no convection) and the temperature never seems to be consistent between uses - one reason I bought my air fryer. My oven in the USA has digital controls, and a specific set of key presses will put it in a maintenance mode that allows you to correct the temperature variance.

I'm pretty sure in New Zealand we have all these types of oven, but generally the ones you say are US ovens are a cheaper oven or an older type oven. If we have one like Sune, it's a more expensive oven. I have fan oven as only choice, which is more expensive for electricity but its even cooking.

I have an oven that can also microwave at the same time with convection for fast cooking

Oh my goodness Helen 10 minutes to preheat your oven to 180°C; for the US crowd. That’s 350°F. My oven is 20 years old and only takes about seven minutes. (I live in Illinois in the US in case that matters to anyone oh, and my oven is gas)

Here’s wishing you a smooth recovery and the very best in your job search!

My oven has a "diffuser" at the bottom covering the coil. There's also a top coil, but it can only been turned on in broil mode, not oven mode. Ovens in NA in general suck quite bad. Premium ovens will be like the standard euro oven

I think that the Ko-Fi link is wrong, I certainly was not able to buy you anything. By the way, in the UK many of us cook with AGAs, four ovens on all the time and no controls whatsoever. It shows me that, as you mentioned, most recipes are not that sensitive to temperature. Just cook until it is the desired temperature or doneness.

It would be interesting to examine the energy consumption of a sous vide set up versus low temperature steam oven cooking. Because the oven is heating up such a large volume of air, I would suspect it would use more energy. Depending upon your sous vide, set up, you may be able to use a considerably lower volume of water than the volume of the oven, and therefore need much less energy to maintain the temperature.

I follow videos by you (sourdough) and Helen and I grew up in Massachusetts so I know where she is located. So sorry about your health & employment problems. Have been there and it stinks. But, if you have your health, all the other curveballs life throws your way are secondary. Get better soon.

For ovens made in Europe, any slide in tray of the same size as the oven is okay. No need to get one the same brand as the oven.

This video blew my mind....

I once saw a demo of an oven made by V-ZUG. Not just the possibility of adding steam but also a setting where you can stop steam from escaping, so no need for a Dutch oven or cloche. Unfortunately….😢😢😢

I bought my house in Australia in 2000. The oven has no option to turn off convection. It's terrible for cakes. The turn out very dry all around the outer inch or so.

I have Anova precision oven. It’s very versatile in terms of steam, sv, low temperature setting, but it doesn’t go over 450 degrees f ☹️

Would you do a bread made from triticale for Trekkies like me?

I think if you weren't familiar with either person and started watching this video, you might assume Helen is the one that is going to talk about European ovens due to her accent. Foodgeek seems to have less of one to me (American).

There are some posts where people use the Hi temp cleaning option in ovens to cook Pizza. Id do research before attempting this... On reflection maybe Not .. Stay safe !

Oh this is an epiphany. Explains why US recipes always need adjustment...

She looks like Sensei in Game of Thrones! She could be her sister! LOL!😄😄

Thanks!