Convection ovens are very handy tools used for various forms of food preparation. They use fans to circulate the flow of air around the food placed inside them which is a great thing as it can be used to evenly circulate heat across said food. Because of this usage of fans, these appliances are also referred to as fan ovens by some.
While they aren’t as traditional as some other types of ovens, convection ovens are still very handy and they’re also highly useful while making specific things. They’re particularly useful because of them being more modern options filled with a variety of different features.
While these features usually vary depending on the specific type of convection oven you have and from what specific brand you got it, there are a few particular options found in nearly all of them.
These are the convection bake and convection roast settings which can come in very handy depending on what users intend to cook. If you’ve recently purchased one of these ovens and are looking to learn the difference between both convection roast and bake, our detailed comparison of the two given below should be of some help.
Convection Bake Vs Roast
Purpose
The first thing to discuss when comparing any two things is differentiating between their main purpose, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do here. The convection bake setting is used for a number of different things thanks to its purpose. It is a lot like regular baking in a sense, but one major difference is that it is noticeably faster thanks to the convection aspect of using fans to evenly distribute the heat across the food.
As the name might suggest, the setting is generally used for baking purposes. The only major difference is how it goes about the baking process, along with the fact that it takes much less time to bake, as already mentioned.
Convection roast on the other hand is a completely different thing. The name of the setting makes it pretty obvious that it is suited to purposes related to things like roasting foods. Much like convection baking, it is a much quicker alternative to its regular counterpart, and it is also a more expensive one.
It is an option only available in convection ovens and a lot of professional chefs use it since it is great for roasting a number of different foods while also cooking them in much quicker time. So while their purpose is very much similar in the sense that both are used to either bake or roast through convection methods, the way that they both go about serving said purposes is completely different.
Method/Process
As we’ve already discussed, convection ovens are very different from regular ones due to the fact that they make use of fans in order to circulate heat all around the inside so that it is evenly distributed across the food being cooked. This way, there are no hot spots on the food, no unevenly cooked sides, no spots in particular that are more or less burnt than the others, or anything else of the sort. This is exactly why they’re such popular options in modern kitchens. Both convection roast and convection bake follow the same concept in this regard, but the way they follow it differs, as mentioned before.
It differs in the sense that convection bake only makes use of the fans in the bottom, only bringing in heat from that direction. This provides users with nice and even heat spread across the entire oven, making sure that there aren’t any unevenly prepared sections of the food.
At the same time, since the heat is only coming and circulating from the bottom side, the convection bake feature makes sure that there is absolutely no browning. This is a great thing since it ensures that the appearance of what you’re baking isn’t ruined in the slightest.
Much like this, convection roast also makes use of the heat element in the bottom, but at the same time, it also introduces new heat elements which come from the top. This opens the food being prepared to browning, which is usually a good thing in terms of roasting. The feature is especially good for anyone that’s trying to roast things like potatoes or various other mixed vegetables.
On the other hand, those using the setting to prepare turkeys, ribs, or other things of the sort should be cautious while doing so. This is because the top heat element can introduce a little too much browning for foods such as these. Regardless it is a very helpful feature just like convection bake as long as you know how to make the most of them.
Where They Can Be Used?
Now that you know the exact differences between both the different features, the main thing that’s probably on your mind is what are their exact applications? That said, convection bake can be used in any application of normal baking.
One thing to keep in mind however is that it is a much faster process, meaning that you should adjust any recipe you’re preparing according to this knowledge. It is best used for quick baking and can even be used for roasting in some cases depending on the specific thing being roasted.
Much like convection baking, convection roast is a quicker alternative to its regular self. It is a feature much better at browning as compared to basic roasting, meaning that it is a feature best used for vegetables and other things of the sort where browning plays a big role in the grand scheme of things.
Convection roasting is almost always a better option compared to the regular option and it is one that a lot of chefs use in restaurants and their homes alike. While learning how to make the most out of this feature and convection bake as well is quite difficult, it is certainly well worth it.