I recently renovated my kitchen and installed a top of the line Thermador
electric oven. The old one had worked fine, but it had given 25 years of
service, so why not get one with the latest gizmos, like a meat probe,
proofing mode, etc.?
Well, I found out why not. The Thermador takes twice as long (20 minutes)
to reach 450 degrees. Further, if I open the oven door thereby causing the
temperature inside to drop, it takes twice as long to heat up back to where
it was. This effect is accentuated if I spritz water in, as some bread
recipes require.
Finally, if I change temperature to something higher than the current
internal temp, the oven goes into preheat mode, where it turns on the
broiler since the baking element does not have sufficient poop. This often
happens even if the change is to a lower temperature, since opening of the
door or spritzing may have dropped the measurement below what I am
resetting to. I end up broiling my bread, which provides a set of lovely
rustic black burn spots on top.
I am told all this is due to a change in oven design. Slow preheating is
needed to prevent cracking of the enamel surfaces. Thermador has been
unsympathetic to my problem, though they promised to put their baking
experts in touch with me. That was two months ago.
Can any of you comment on this? Are all ovens nowadays subject to the same
problem? Should I have gotten a gas unit instead of electric? We've
discussed mixers from time to time in this forum, but I don't recall seeing
info about this most critical tool, the oven. I may end up junking the
Thermador if I can find a clearly superior unit.
Feedback appreciated,
Richard Casey