Owner of a stone oven or planning on buying one? These tips are for you!
Having a few years of stone oven usage under our belts we thought it would be useful to gather a few tips and tricks about the use and cleaning of these ovens and share them with you.
We own two Rofco stone ovens (the B20 and B40 model) and most of the tips you’ll find on the list below are especially helpful for other Rofco owners and bakers, but a bunch of them can also be applied to other bread / pizza / stone oven brands or for people who bake bread on a stone in their regular oven.
- Tip for easy cleaning: Ovens with a stainless steal exterior can get stained with not so attractive brown spots and smutches, especially around the steam vents. We found out you can very easily remove these stains by carefully wiping the door with a wet paper towel while the oven is hot. Because of the hot oven and the wet paper you get a sort of steam cleaning.
- Tip for cleaning your oven window: The oven window also gathers a brownish hue after several bakes and it gets harder to see through it. You can get rid of this brown coating by scraping it off with a sharp razor blade.
- We usually clean out our oven between bakes with an oven brush but we also use the vacuum cleaner and put the brush on the porous stone to really get those crumbs out.
- We never bake enriched breads that contain a lot of fat and / or sugar directly on the stones, because we want to keep them clean. We use a baking tray and /or baking paper. We also want to avoid getting the smell of onion and garlic in the stones because, even though we are fond of it, we do not want every loaf we bake to taste of it. So protect your stones when you can expect spilling or leakage.
- Grease or burned sugar spilled on your baking stones? Best clean it with a dough knife or coarse sanding paper
- We make the most of the warmth of our oven by placing bowls of dough on top to help with the proofing (always keep an eye on your dough temperature, also check out these tips.)
- It is important that the stones get enough time to absorb the heat, that is why heating a stone oven takes so much longer than heating a conventional oven. But because the stones retain the heat for much longer, as soon as they are hot enough, you will be able to profit from their heat for much longer. One of the biggest advantages being that not much heat is lost by opening the oven door (unlike many household ovens, where the temperature can drop significantly). This initial blast of heat is crucial in bread baking, especially for good oven spring.
- When using steam, it is best to spray the oven walls. Avoid getting water on the (the protective glass over) the oven light because there is a good chance it will snap.
- To avoid those nasty bakers tattoos, buy some good quality protective oven gloves that go all the way up to your elbows.
- Make sure to clean your stones before the next baking session otherwise the crumbs that got left behind will burn and it will not smell nice plus the burned crumbs will attach to the bottom of your fresh batch!
- Choose your stone oven size wisely and think about how much bread you want to bake initially and in the future. If you know you are always going to bake just one or two loaves you can be happy for many years with a one tier oven that accommodates these small quantities. If you know you are already very fond of bread baking and are keen on baking for others or baking bigger batches, just have a good conversation with yourself and take space, other equipment like mixers and electricity bills into account and make an informed decision.
Rofco, Häußler or other stone oven user? We and many other bakers would like to hear your tips and tricks and baking experiences with your oven.
Leave a comment below!
Pete Green says
Hi,
I moved from the UK to New Zealand a couple of years ago and want to get back into small business baking. I have been advised the Rofco’s are great for market/pop-up production levels but I can’t seem to find them here in NZ. What would you recommend without taking out a mortgage on a 4 deck bread oven?!
Hope you can help!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Pete,
Hope you will do great with your baking business. We only use the Rofco B40 and B20 and next to that for pastry a convection oven with two fans This brand: www.euromax.eu/products/ovens). We cannot advice you on deck ovens other than maybe look into something second hand…
Good luck with everything and greetings from Holland,
Ed & Marieke
paul says
Hi Pete Green
If it helps I have just got one in Australia from a company called Brook Food Aus i’m sure they would get one for you.
Weekend Bakers says
Thanks Paul, for adding your helpful suggestion. Good to know too.
Steph says
Hello, I am considering buying a used 2 year old B40, would you say it should have plenty of life left if it’s been looked after? I notice the stones are stained a bit, should this concern me? I can’t afford a new one and am really keen on the B40 but would like to know if it is a good investment even at 2 years old. Thank you!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Steph,
We would say if it is in good condition it can be used for many, many years. Rofco ovens can last for decades and lots of people (including ourselves) have been using them for 10 to 20 years no problem. Stones will always be stained a bit, this will happen and is no problem we think, provided the oven was used only to bake bread and the staining is just from normal bread baking and not other things. Our stones are stained too, we just brush out any excess flour after each bake and use them again. If the price is right, it could be a good deal to be able to buy a second hand Rofco that is fairly new, because we do not see them being offered that often.
If possible, try it one time together with the current owner, to make sure everything is in good working order and see how you like it.
Good luck with it!
Kelly says
Hello!
I am curious if you have used your Rofco much for Pizza, and if so what you thought about the results. The kitchen in which I work is considering purchasing a Rofco for bread making, but I wondered if we could also use the oven to host a weekly pizza night. My primary concern is opening/closing the door too often, as I’ll be making the pizzas to order rather than just baking them to all be finished at the same time. I would appreciate any insights you might have! Thank you!
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Kelly,
We can tell you that the Rofco is a great bread oven, but we do not recommend it for pizza for two reasons.
The first is the temperature, we think it will not get hot enough for pizza (The top is 300 C, it would preferably have to get hotter for good pizza, but more important it takes a very very long time to reach this temp and the rubber around the door starts to sag). The second reason is we would always separate the bread baking from the pizza because of the ingredients that might come in touch with the stones (think onion, garlic) and effect the regular bread.
Of course you can bake pizza in a Rofco, but mainly for the reasons above we ourselves would look at other options for pizza baking.
Enjoy your baking!
Thak says
Hi !
I just buy an “old” Rofco B30 (same as the B40 i guess)
My only experience in baking was with a regular kitchen, could you give me some advise/tips on using a rofco ?
Like the temp to set, when i need to turn down the temp, etc..?
Thx in advance !
Cheers
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Thak,
That is great news. Hope it will still work perfect.
You can read some useful tips in the article above of course and we also wrote this posting right after we bought our first Rofco:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…read-oven/
First it is important to find out if your oven does indicate the temperature correctly. So to find out what the real temperature of your oven is compared to the temperature indicated on the settings. You can do this by using a ‘true temp’ oven thermometer (they will cost about 5 euro or dollar).
In general, when you bake loaves you will preheat your oven for about 1.5 to 2 hours at 235 Celsius. Then you load your oven, add steam (see above) close the door. After a period of around 10 to 15 minutes you will see the bread getting a nice color on the crust. This is the time you lower the oven temp to only 50 Celsius (so you keep the oven on, but effectively now bake only on the heat of the stones for the rest of the baking time). So lower the temp if you like the color on the crust, keeping in mind it will still get a bit darker because of the rest of the time in the oven (for the breads we make of around 750 grams the total baking time is around 45 minutes). At this same moment we also release the steam from the oven by opening the steam vents in the door. These indications are for loaves like our pain rustique, of around 750 grams each, a great bread to start with in the Rofco:
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…-rustique/
Also very important so we repeat it here: When using steam, it is best to spray the oven walls. Avoid getting water on the (the protective glass over) the oven light because there is a good chance it will snap!
In the picture you can see we use quite a lot of steam.
Good luck with your first bakes!
Lieschen says
Hello,
I am expecting a Rofco B40 to arrive next month. I’ve ordered a restaurant equipment stand on locking wheels to hold the oven at a better working height than on the floor. I am curious to know what height would experienced users recommend for such a stand? The stand I have is currently 74 cm (approx. 29″) high, but I have the option of using shorter legs to 53 cm (21″) or so. I am 1.67 meters (5′ 6″) tall. I won’t be able to change the height of the stand easily once the oven is installed. So any advice here would be appreciated. Thank you!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Lieschen,
Congrats with the new oven. We find it hard to advice you ourselves. Our ovens are on wheels so we can move them around if necessary. We would opt for the shorter legs ourselves, also considering your own length, we think the loading of the top tier would be easier this way. But just try it out with some cardboard boxes, then the decision will be clear probably.
Good luck with it and lots of crusty loaves!
DenisaAlex says
Thanks for these amazing tips! My oven window already has many stains already and I’ve tried a bunch of products but I’ve never thought about using a razor blade! Thanks!
Irene says
Hi,
I am thinking about getting B40. I know B40 has the two different temperature controls. The left one is for top and 2nd element, the right one is for 3rd and the bottom element. My question is if I sent up both temperature different, Ex: I sent up 180C for top and 2nd element , and 220C for the 3rd and bottom element. So will this mean the middle baking space will be 180C on the top and 220C on the bottom of it? Also my second question, do you have to totally turn off the both temperature bottoms off, after you place the dough into B40?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Irene,
There are 4 heating elements in the B40. The top and second one, controlled by the left knob, heaths the top stone. So you can use this if you want to bake on only one tier. The other knob on the right controls the other two heating elements underneath the two other stones. So you only have two options: Either you use only the top stone, controlled by the left knob, or you use all three stones at once, controlled by both temperature knobs at the same time at the same temperature. So there is no possibility of different temps for different levels.
In general you put you turn down the oven temp (we do this to 50C) and bake on a ‘falling temperature’ on the heath of the stones, as soon as your loaves have the desired color on them.
Hope this helps.
Greetings from WKB
Lisa says
Hello,
Firstly thank you so much for sharing such useful tips and helpful advice here (I have read through all your comment replies)!
I am currently debating whether to go for it and purchase a Rofco oven. I am a home baker at present but would really like to do more with it, and my home gas oven vents steam far too quickly for it to be any use in baking artisan bread. I have been using a dutch oven to date.
My main question is, and since you are in the unique position of having experience with both, what would you say are the main differences (in usability, other than just capacity) between the b20 and b40? For instance, do you think the quality of yours bakes are any inferior in the smaller model? I understand the b40 has an additional capability for controlling the heat of the stones separately, which the b20 does not.
Two other specific questions I have is, do the tops of the loaves get overcooked more in the b20 compared to the b40, due to the height of each shelf being smaller and therefore the top of the loaves being closer to the heating element? Also, does the b20 have the capability of heating only one (the top) shelf? I think I read somewhere that the b40 does, which would be useful if you are only doing a small amount of baking.
Thank you so much in advance for your time. I have scoured the internet but there is very little information available comparing the different models. I noticed that in the UK the prices between the two models isn’t too enormous, where as in the US (where I am based) it is almost double, which does push it a little out of my reach at the moment. But I would like to know what disadvantages the b20 might have so that I at least have realistic expectations.
Thanks again,
Lisa
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Lisa,
We hope we can shed some light on your questions about the ovens. We can tell you that for us there is no difference in the quality of the bakes between the two. The main reason for us to get the B40 was capacity. The B20 does not have the capacity to heat only one tier, that is a feature of the B40. The loaves being closer to the elements is no problem, you just have to turn the thermostat down at the right moment. So with the B20 you have to allow 15 to 30 minutes between each bake for the oven to get to the right temperature again. Because you have turned down the oven the second half of the baking process it needs to get back up to speed before the next load. You also have to keep in mind that it is primarily a bread oven. So if you are planning on also baking a lot of cookies we would also suggest to look at a good convection oven with an even bake. For our cookies and pastries we use a convection oven with two fans.
We loved baking with our B20 and only got the B40 because we liked the baking so much and wanted to bake more and more. So think about your wishes and needs now and in the future to make the right decision.
Good luck with your decision.
Greetings,
Ed & Marieke
Lisa says
Hi Ed and Marieke,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a helpful and thorough response to my questions, I am so very grateful. As I mentioned, it has been rather challenging to find information comparing the two models so your experience and input is extremely valuable. Thank you also about mentioning the different baking requirements of goods other than breads, I will definitely bear that in mind as I try to make a final decision as to which oven to purchase.
Thank you again!
Lisa
Weekend Bakers says
Your welcome Lisa,
Again lots of luck with the whole process!
Moray Bresnihan says
If you’re loading multiple loaves (10 or so) at a time into a deck oven can you leave door open while you’re loading ontonpeel and into oven or should you close door every time?
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Moray,
We do not use a deck oven, but when we load our oven we make sure we can quickly load all the loaves one after the other, spray for steam and then close the door.
Gary says
Do you know how much you spend on electricity per bake/daily with the Rofco B40?
Also, I read your steaming technique: doesn’t the steam mostly just escape through the open door?
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Gary,
We only ever kept score with the B20 and that came down to power consumption of around 6kW after 8 hours of usage, baking 4 different types of bread. We never did the same for the B40 but our guess is it would be about 9kW for the same duration.
About the steam, no it does not escape if you just work quickly (spray liberally and close!). Of course some steam will escape but plenty will be left to do the job.
Hope this helps!
Joy says
My oven came last week!
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Joy,
Congratulations, hope all is well and you are already baking!
dan says
Hi
I’ve got a rofco b40 and been using for the past 5 weeks. Just wondered about using steam. I’ve been using something similar to what you have in the picture but wondered how long you spray for and how much you think is enough. sometimes feels like i’m putting too much water in and it falls on the stones around the bread. So do you just spray the walls?
thanks
dan
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Dan,
As you can see in the picture we use a plant sprayer that sprays more like a mist and as we say in the tips:
When using steam, it is best to spray the oven walls. Avoid getting water on the (the protective glass over) the oven light because there is a good chance it will snap.
We spray for about 3 seconds on each level. We never see actual water fall on the stones. The oven is really hot of course, and you see steam being created immediately like you see in the picture too. So maybe your sprayer drips a bit or does not spray like ours. The oven and the bread can use quite a bit of steam, usually we see people using not enough rather than too much.
Good luck with it!
Ed & Marieke
Harry says
Hi,
Im considering getting a Rofco oven and wondered if very dark crusty crusts are achieveable with the oven? If you could send me any pictures that you have of your results that would be great!
Many thanks
Harry
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Harry,
All pictures of bread on our website are Rofco bakes. It is not our goal to get a very dark crust, however it is very easy to achieve this in a Rofco, you can play with times and temperatures and the point at which you turn down the oven after your loaves have the preferred browning.
Good luck with your oven quest!
Arturo Enciso says
Hi Ed & Marieke
Are you able to do multiple loads in the B20? For example, first bake 6 (750g) loaves and soon after load another 6?
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Arturo,
With the B20 you have to allow 15 to 30 minutes between each bake for the oven to get to the right temperature again. Because you have turned down the oven the second half of the baking process it needs to get back up to speed before the next load.
Good luck with it!
Caroline says
Hello,
I received my Rofco B30 last week and I have been experimenting with it since. I have purchased two of their steaming trays as accessories, but I am still not able to achieve a dark and crusty bread. My loaves come out pretty pale and the crust is chewy… I have been baking the first 15 minutes at 230C and then 15 minutes at 50C. I usually open my vents 10 minutes before I take the bread out. What color do you usually get after baking your bread at 235C? Am I doing something wrong? Thank you for your input 🙂
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Caroline,
First of all it is important to know how accurate your oven indicates the temperature. It is wise to find out what the real temperature of your oven is compared to the temperature indicated on the settings. You can do this by using a ‘true temp’ oven thermometer (they will cost about 5 euro or dollar) and see if there are any deviations. (And of course make sure the oven is very well preheated, just take two hours to be sure you are at that point).
It is also important that for the first 15 minutes the green light keeps on burning, indicating that the heat spirals are radiating heat. Keep an eye on this and if you see the light going out turn up the temp just a bit higher so the green light is turned on and the spirals can do their work. Turn it down when the bread has the right color for you (aim for a good golden brown, and if your oven is working properly this should be somewhere around the 15 minutes mark, also depending on the load of your oven). We bake at 235, turn down at around 14 minutes and bake till 45 minutes for loaves of around 750 grams, 35 minutes for loaves of 500 grams.
Hope this helps you.
Good luck with it!
Ömer Seyfi Salur says
Dear friend the baking times are wrong tomy understanding. 230 C at least 25 min. than the rest is again 180/190 C try it.
Weekend Bakers says
This is based on the working of our Rofco stone oven, every oven (even every Rofco) is different of course, so it is important to know your oven and find out what works for you.
Cheryl H. says
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience! When steaming, do you steam all three levels if the oven is fully loaded? How long and how many steam applications work best for you?
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Cheryl,
Yes, we definitely do all three. We apply a lot of steam, think around 5 seconds of continues spraying (with the plant sprayer from the picture) in total, shared over the three levels, also aiming at the sides and back of the oven. Be very sure not to hit your oven light, it will shatter (we know from experience)!
Michael Sellers says
Just wanted to thank you for posting all of this very helpful information about different types of ovens, most especially the Rofco. I just ordered a B40 and it’s slated for delivery this Friday. Can’t wait to try it out. Your tips and techniques really helped me make the final decision.
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Michael,
Congrats on the oven. Hope it will all go well and you will be baking soon or have already baked your first loaves.
We understand from talking to other Rofco users that every oven is just a bit different so hope you get to know your oven soon and will also get great baking results!
Ed & Marieke
Adrian Brazener says
Hi there
I am in the process of wanting to buy a Rofco B 40 oven. If possible I would like to physically look at one and see the results of bread baking before I buy one.
Do you know of anyone who has one in the Nottinghamshire or surrounding area that I could possibly contact.
Thank you
Wendy
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Wendy,
It is best to contact Rofco.be, they do have an English speaking assistant that can help you. We know there are several Rofco ovens used in the UK but do not know where exactly. And there should also be a UK dealership/ distributor, we believe it is Brook food in Somerset.
Good luck with it!
Ed & Marieke
Liz says
Hello lovely weekend bakery,
I have just taken ownership of a second hand Rofco B30. I’ve brushed and vacuumed etc but the tiles are quite black and leaving marks on my initial bake. Any top tips on how to clean the tiles ?
What temperature do you bake with…and do you turn down…
Thanks so much.
Liz.
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Liz,
Congratulations on your purchase. We would suggest sanding the stones and then vacuuming them again and if this does not give good result we would turn the stones and use the other side which is hopefully still looking good.
On average for loaves of around 750 g we bake at 235C and turn down the oven after 10 to 14 minutes, depending on the oven load and the colour / browning of the loaves. At this point we also release the steam. But make sure your thermostat indicates the right temperature (you can measure this with a cheap oven thermometer).
Good luck with it!
Ed & Marieke
Liz Wilson says
Thank you lovely WB’s.
What temperature do you turn your oven down to ? Then do you turn it back up for each subsequent bake ?
Thanks so much
LIZ
Weekend Bakers says
We turn it down all the way to 50C. After each bake you turn it up again to the required temperature and wait 15 minutes to get the next batch in.
Mike Dintelman says
Hey Folks,
I just received and set-up my little B5 Rofco oven. WOW, I’m in love with it. It is just the right size for a ‘family’ not needing to make large batches of bread.
My research lead me to your wonderful web site and nudged me in the direction of a Rofco. I also enjoyed many of your articles. I’ll most definitely stay tuned in.
Below is a link to what I posted on “The Fresh Loaf” of my experience ordering, receiving, setting up, and the first bakes. I hope it will assist others in their quest to find an oven for their needs.
Mike
www.thefreshloaf.com/node/…it-arrived
Weekend Bakers says
He Mike,
So glad you are happy too with your own Rofco. Happy baking for many years to come hopefully. Thanks for sharing this info, it will indeed be useful and interesting for people who want to do the same, especially a little bit further afield than Holland or Belgium where your Rofco was born. Great to see how you add the steam! Baking results already looking very good too!
Happy baking on the stones.
Greetings,
Ed & Marieke
Alex says
Hello,
I am considering purchasing a B40 but have received conflicting feedback from the company themselves and the uk suppliers. One says the doors exterior gets very hot when in use and the other says it is just slightly warm. I have young children and would appreciate if you could let me know if you find the door gets overly hot.
Thanks in advance
Alex
Weekend Bakers says
Hi, the Rofco B20 and B40 both get both hot on the outside. They do not get to a skin burning temperature, but it will be very unpleasant to the touch. When to choose between ‘very hot’ and ‘slightly warm’, I have to disagree about the ‘slighty warm’. The outside gets much hotter than slightly warm. Hope this helps.
PS. Just did a measurement on a B40 which has been running for about two hours, the outside metal is around 80C to 85C.
Gill says
Thanks Ed and Marieke,
Your note and these tips are very useful. Sounds like the Rofco may take a little getting used to – but everyone speaks highly of it – unless you have to ship it to the US!
KR
Gill
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Gill,
From household oven to Rofco did not take much getting used to from us. As long as you take care to follow the instructions you will get more than excellent baking results from probably the first time you bake. We did not find it difficult, the most important factors are time, temperature and tempering.
Wishing you all the best with deciding and choosing.
Marieke & Ed
Peter Sorton says
Hello
I have just taken delivery of a Rofco B40, which I have yet to bake with. I have been using a Haussler Primus with excellent results but it only takes 4 loaves.
Your recipes are all excellent and I have had great results.
Can you advise me please re. temperatures.
For example your pain rustique and sourdough.
How long before baking do you turn the oven on?
What temperature? Is it the same for both top and bottom elements.
With the Haussler I turn if off as soon as the dough goes in.
But the Rofco manual says turn it down to 50c after 10 minutes.
At what point do you open the steam vents?
Many thanks
Peter Sorton.
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Peter,
Hope all is well with the Rofco. We turn the oven on about 1.5 to 2 hours before baking. The pain rustique and sourdough are baked at 235 C (but we do not bake continually at this temperature, we turn the oven down and let it heat up again between bakes. If you want to bake the next batch right after the other you have to do this at a lower temp, otherwise the breads will burn) . It could be that experience will learn that your oven will have slightly different settings than ours and/or or that top and bottom also need slightly different settings, because there can be a difference in browning of the loaves. We turn the oven down after 10 to 14 minutes of baking, depending on the load and also looking at the color of the loaves. We also open the steam vents at that same time.
Hope this helps you as a starting point and hope that you may produce or are already producing great loaves.
Good luck with it and greetings from Holland!
Ed & Marieke
John says
Hello!
Thank you for your web site! It’s the only site that references Rofco that I could find.
After trying a baking stone (broken), a Steel Welsh Stone (very good with electric) and a Cloche (required for gas), I upscaled to a Rofco B40 for Christmas. I am VERY happy with the results. My oven was slightly damaged in delivery (I accepted it); the door hinge was bent out. I have bent it back and have good steam results (spray only) regardless a slight gap at the top of the door at either corner.
I haven’t quite perfected getting a full load on each shelf but practice makes perfect…
Keep up your good work (on and off site)
John
(once of Amsterdam, Utrecht, Groningen and…erm…Den Helder – Brrrrr)
Sam Temple says
I just unpacked and used the B40 and noticed a gap along the right top edge of door where steam was escaping from. I cannot believe this 4000 usd oven could make it out of production with a door that didn’t fit flush. Nothing appears bent; rather, the door hinge seems to be askew. I’m going to call Rofco and their distributor tomorrow but just wanted to give a heads up for prospective buyers. Really shocked!
cynthia says
Hi Sam, can you please give us an update on your experience? Who was the distributor? I’m also researching before taking the plunge for the B40. Would appreciate any info/tips I can get. Thanks!
-Cynthia
Raluca says
Hi guys,
I am thinking of buying the same oven you are currently using, hoping to build a mini bakery of my own and was wondering if you are currently using the steam pods that are coming with the oven or you think just the spraying is enough?
Also would you recommend the oven overall?
Thanks very much!
Love your loaves as always!
Raluca
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Raluca, we have a Rofco B20 and the B40, and with both we do not use the steam pods. The steam pods do produce a lot of steam, but they take space in the oven, and we find them awkward to fill. You need to fill all three very very quickly as they produce steam very fast and they spray and spatter hot water droplets when filling them up. We stopped using them and went back to spraying the walls. Be careful for not spraying on the oven light! Happy baking!
Sam Temple says
Thanks for the helpful comments on Rofco ovens. I am considering
a B20/B40 for a small start up microbakery. What has me stumped is the
steaming operation in a three level, one door oven. It seems like it will take too long to load
three levels and then add steam, either with spray or trays. Am I missing something here?
Thanks!
Weekend Bakers says
Hi, with practice you will get very quick with this. Best thing with a B40 is to make three big boards to load 4 breads at one go. So you will have 3 boards with 4 breads each and then you load all under a minute, including spraying water to make some steam, in the oven.
Sam Temple says
Thanks! So you load all 3 levels directly on stone, spray, and shut door? I guess since you can close vents not as much steam is needed compared to conventional oven. Any opinions about steam trays? Do you think spraying does the job just as well? It’s a pity to lose 2inches of bake space!
Thanks again
S Baker says
I went down to my local steel factory and asked for an off cut. They gave me a 8mm thick steel plate that, after help from an angle grinder, helped me get a perfect fit in the oven, the best thing to use for stone baked bread.
No breaking, quicker to warm up and hold heat longer than a stone and no breaking 🙂
Weekend Bakers says
Never baked on thick steel. Will the steel not quickly rust when heated and cooled and with the help of steam inside the oven? Or did you use a piece of stainless steel?
Hugh Barton says
I corresponded with you a while back and you were nice enough to send me some sour dryed sour dough starter and a lame. I appreciate the time you took in helping me and now I hope I can give you some help in cleaning your stone oven in return for the help given to me. I do not own a stone oven so take care in what ideas I give you. You should think of putting plain water or water and white vinegar in a pan using enough so it lasts till the oven turns off, to remove the spots from the walls and glass. Turn on the oven at a about 450 -500F for let’s say 15 to 20 minutes or enough time to soften the brown spots on the walls and glass. Then after letting the oven cool awhile wipe with clean clothe being careful not to burn yourself if the oven is too hot. As for the stone cleaning try sprinkling some baking soda on the stain and then sprinkle with white vinegar and let it stand for a while, this should remove the stain and also any odor. I hope this makes oven cleaning much easier for you and would like to know if it helps.
Sincerely Hugh Barton.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Hugh,
Yes we remember of course! Great to hear from you. Hope the sourdough is doing alright. Thank you so much for sharing these oven tips with us. Your tips sound very promising , we want to try them out and we are sure they are helpful for other bakers too. We are always very careful with our stones and really only bake bread in it so our stones are luckily not in too bad a shape but of course it does not look like new anymore.
Wishing you all the best and happy baking!
Greetings from Holland,
Ed & Marieke
Richard says
Hi, just recently bought a Rofco B30 and am loving it, I was wondering; as you bake at high heat to start with then turn it right down to 50 deg for last period is it possible to bake by heating both top and bottom at first, baking on bottom only first then as soon as bread comes out (or close to) using top shelf (which still at 250 deg) then vice versa.
This is to to help me to bake almost continuously with different breads that finish proving at different times instead of trying to get all my different doughs ready for baking at same time.
Hope this makes sense!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Richard,
It sounds like a plan that could work. We have never tried this method so we cannot help you based on experience. You just need to check the temperature with an oven thermometer to verify the temperature of the shelves maybe, to see if everything stays stable like you want it too.
Hope it works out well.
Happy continuous baking!
Richard says
Hi there, thanks for taking the time to answer.
Tried baking like this on a small scale with 2 breads so started with bottom for 1st load and moved to top with 2nd load and went ok. When I next have to do a larger batch of 3 types will see how will see how it works then- that will be the interesting one trying to bring the bottom shelves up in temp whilst lowering the top one – I think I’ll try the third phase with thermometer only first!
Weekend Bakers says
Sounds very promising! Hope to hear more as you go along, always interested to know how it works out.
Good luck with it and happy batch baking 🙂
Helen says
Hello again Ed and Marieke,
Thanks again for sharing so much! Just baked your “sourdough pain naturel’ recipe with spelt flour, in 2 Lodge Logic Dutch ovens and am chuffed with the results!
I have been thinking of buying a “proper ” bread oven – (indeed a Rofco!) and would greatly appreciate your advice.
Does the difference in height between the shelves of the B20 and the B40 make different results e.g. in oven spring or do you find that your bakes are the same?
I have a Bear Teddy Varimixer and don’t expect to be baking 12 loaves at a time in the future (although you never know!) – but am thinking that the extra width space in the B30 and B40 is probably very handy to have.
If you have the time i would love to hear from you!
Many thanks,
Helen
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Helen,
Great to hear! We can tell from experience that the baking results for the B20 and B40 are very much alike. The extra height of the B40 would allow you to bake continuously without reheating between bakes. So you could bake more in less time. You are very right that a bit of extra floor space is very handy and comfortable when loading the oven. We also bake 6 or 9 loaves for example of different kinds in the B40 and it allows for not too precise placing of the loaves. So if you want to bake 6 loaves or maybe more sometimes (in future) and the higher price is not a big issue, the B30 or B40 would be a great choice.
Good luck with your decision and happy baking!
Ed & Marieke
Helen says
Thank you so much for your reply! Means a lot!
Will keep on baking and am thinking of taking a trip to Rofco in the near future…..
Andee says
Hi! I have these charcoal-fed brick oven and still starting to learn using it for breads. Thank you for being generous with your infos! I hope to make good bread soon like you do! 🙂
www.thefreshloaf.com/node/…ent-287037
Weekend Bakers says
What an interesting oven, we have never seen anything like it! It will be very good for baking bread by the looks of it.
Enjoy your oven and the great process of baking your own bread.
Happy baking!
Ed & Marieke
Luc says
I recently sprayed the door locking mechanisms (the male part) with some baking spray oil, after 2 or 3 bakes this worked its way into the whole locking system and makes for much more gentle door closing. Thought I’d share that here in your stone oven tips!
Greetings from Tilburg
Luc
Weekend Bakers says
We love this tip Luc and are going to copy it right away!
Thanks for sharing,
Ed & Marieke
Michael Toporowski says
Are you also misting the loaf or just the stone . Have you tried the steam tray from Rofco ?
Regards ,
Michael
sara says
Hello!
I’m thinking about buy a Rofco B40 🙂
So I have a question for you: how many loaves can I bake at the same time in a B40? how many kg?
Hoping to receive your answer as soon as possible
besos from Barcelona 😉
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Sara,
The capacity of a Rofco B40 is 12 loaves of around 750 g. This is what we bake with it when using it to its full capacity and the breads are baked directly on the stones. When using baking tins you can go a little higher, the maximum will then be something like 12 kg of dough.
Hope this answers your question. Good luck with it!
Greetings / Groetjes from Holland
Marieke & Ed
Carl says
I found this article whilst looking for cleaning tips on stone ovens and I have to say some great advice here, will definitely be using the wet paper towel trick!
Cheers
Carl
Oven Cleaning Liverpool