Blodgett Combi Cooking Guide
HOT AIR MODE
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When to use the Hot Air Mode
The Hot Air Mode is best suited to those
items that require a dry cooking environ-
ment or rapid browning. Most bakery items
(cookies, cakes, muffins, etc.) will be cooked
in the Hot Air Mode, although many yeast-
leavened products (breads and rolls, crois-
sants, Danish pastries) will yield excellent
results in Combi Mode as well. The Hot Air
Mode can be used to pre-brown meats for
braising or to intensify the final browning of
roasts that have been completed in Combi
Mode.
How the Hot Air Mode Works
The Hot Air Mode operates exactly like the
familiar convection oven. When adapting
recipes written for static ovens (e.g., deck
ovens or restaurant-range type ovens), you
will generally need to reduce temperatures
25-50°F/15-30°C. Moving (convected) hot
air transfers heat to your food more efficient-
ly than static air, allowing you to cook at
lower temperatures.
Set the thermostat to the desired tempera-
ture and allow the oven to fully preheat
before beginning to cook. The small red
thermometer light next to the thermostat
will light up during preheating. When it
goes out, the oven is up to temperature.
This light will come on again periodically
during operation, indicating that the hot air
elements or burners are active.
Tips for Cooking in the Hot Air Mode
Because your unit is cooking with convected
hot air, maximizing the exposed surface area
of the food to be cooked will yield the best
results. Covering the pans with film and/or
foil, using deep pans or crowding the pans
too close together without room for air cir-
culation will slow down the cooking process
considerably and may result in uneven cook-
ing.
Cakes may be baked using pan inserts for
greater volume and square corners. Use spe-
cialized pans (e.g., muffin tins) as necessary.
If you observe over-browning around the
edges of the product with a light or under-
cooked center area, the temperature may be
set too high for that product. Undercooked
interiors with a burnt or overdone surface
are also an indication that the temperature is
too high.
