Baking Headstart: My very own Convection Oven

Last April, i finally got a headstart on my baking journey when i finally got the Imarflex 3-in1 convection oven with 30L capacity. Since then i learned so much and tried baking all sort of stuff from cookies to bread loafs to pizzas. The hubby also roasted a whole chicken in it. You can checkout my Instagram for a gallery of my baked success (and failures, too). 

Disclaimer: I am not being paid to publish this post, just sharing my experience with the product. 

Before i got this, I've tried baking in a turbo broiler. I managed to bake banana loaves, but baking took too long and it was quite difficult to "balance" the temperature inside. The top layer of the loaves can get burnt quickly, since the heat is solely coming from the heating component on top.  A convection oven circulates heated air to make sure even cooking on top, below and around your baking pans.   

Cream cheese cookies baking in my convection oven

Well, i have been drooling for a La Germania oven for so long,  but for now i'm satisfied naman with this purchase.  A convection oven is cheaper than my dream La Germania. Last time i checked, the cheapest La Germania oven  was around Php 12,000  I also opted for electric because i had phobia in using LPG. We have very limited kitchen space right now so i'm settled with this one that i can place on the kitchen counter. It's just a tad bigger than the usual over toaster kasi.  
  

I ordered directly from their warehouse and got it for Php 4670. The price of the oven was Php 4370 but i got one extra rack, so i can do two-layer baking.  Double check with the warehouse first, because they announced a price increase recently.  This was priced around Php 5000 in malls in April so medyo hindi ko rin pinapansin noon una. I actually had my eye on the Asahi convection oven, reviewed in these posts from The Bright Spot and Life in Manila.  It has a smaller capacity (23L yata) and was just Php 2500, but my indulgent husband convinced me to get the bigger Imarflex.  He said it was a good buy because of the brand. ;) My husband is really trying to spoil me. 

The oven's temperature is in Celsius and can be set up to 250C. When baking, use Convection + Both Heater on the dial.  My only issue was that you'll have to estimate or "tantsya" where to point the dial for temperature because the marked points are only 100- 50-200-250 Celsius points only. So you'll have to convert in Fahrenheit pa. For cupcakes and cookies, cooking temperature is somewhere between 325 to 350 Fahrenheit, that's about 160 Celsius, so you'll have to "guestimate" to dial between 150 to 170.  However, this issue can easily be remedied by using an oven thermometer, so you'll actually measure the inside of the oven.   

For those who are asking about electric consumption, since cooking with electricity is a major issue for budget-conscious moms like me,  this oven is 1600 watts. A bit higher that 28L ones, which have 1500 watts. I downloaded the Meralco Appliance Calculator to get an idea about the cost of my consumption. For us, it's about Php 15 to Php 20 per hour. The cost varies how long and how often you use the convection oven. Meralco's computation also takes into account your household's monthly consumption. Higher wattage and higher monthly electric bill will lead to higher cost of consumption per hour. . 

What i love about this oven is that i can bake 2 layers of 14 X 10 pans. 14 in x 10 in is the usual dimensions of 3 oz muffin pans with 12 holes). When buying pans for this oven, take not of that as your maximum dimension to fit your pans perfectly.  When baking in two or more layers, make sure to leave adequate space for airflow. What i do, since tha pans fit in perfecty, leaving no space on the sides, is to turn the pans regularly to prevent burning. I read somewhere that every oven  is unique, so a baker must be patient enough to deal with each oven's individuality. ;) 

Let me share again some of the baking recipes i have posted so far: 

• Lemon Crinkles
• 
  
• Choco Oatmeal Bar

This posts from Jillathan  and  from Chemist Dad helped be decide to finally invest in this convection oven. 
I'm so glad to have this in our household and i can't wait to bake more goodies in it! 

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