Understand Toaster Oven Settings Before You Start Baking
Is it your first time owning a toaster oven and you don’t know how the settings work? Don’t worry. Sometimes, the settings can be confusing, whether you’re replacing your old toaster oven with a newer model or you’re buying one for the first time.
You might think that since you owned a toaster previously, you’ll understand the new toaster oven’s settings without any difficulty. However, this might not be the case since technology is always changing.
You may discover that there are various differences in the settings, depending on the toaster brand. Moreover, the operating principle may be different for the new toaster brand.
This article highlights various brands of toaster ovens and their settings. I’ve defined the settings clearly to enable you to operate your toaster oven within no time.
You can read and easily understand your toaster oven settings, depending on how much experience you have with toasters. But before we proceed, let’s learn about how toaster ovens function and why you may need one in your kitchen.
How a Toaster Oven Works
There are two types of toaster ovens; the convection type and the standard toaster oven.
A standard toaster oven operates just like the normal kitchen oven. The toaster circulates heat on the inside by using natural currents.
On the other hand, a convection toaster oven normally circulates heat with the help of a fan. In turn, the toaster oven’s heating elements distributed the heat generated evenly. Premium toaster ovens usually have a steam setting.
What Can You Cook in a Toaster Oven?
With most standard toaster ovens, you can bake, toast and broil. Remember, the settings of a toaster oven may be different depending on whether it’s a high-end level or an entry-level model. High-end toaster ovens may have additional settings, such as roast and defrost.
Toaster ovens can be used for more than just toasting. For example, they can do most of the things that a standard oven can do.
A toaster oven comes with a pan, which can be used to cook different foods like pancakes and pizza. The appliance can also be used to preheat food or melt ingredients.
Toaster Oven Settings
The common toaster oven settings are toasting, broiling and convection baking. You can set the oven to toast or warm food. Moreover, you can select the crust shade you want and stop the toaster.
Baking
When you set the toaster oven to baking mode, it will operate similarly to the way a normal kitchen oven does. Therefore, you’ll be able to bake pastries in it, like you normally would with an ordinary kitchen oven
However, a toaster oven uses less energy to do bake than a traditional kitchen oven.
Since toaster ovens are small, the heat produced circulates faster. Therefore, check the heat level as well as the time needed to cook when using the toaster oven bake settings.
If you’re using your toaster oven to bake, use the temperature dial to regulate the heat. After this, set the function dial to bake. Remember to always preheat the toaster oven for about 5 minutes before you begin baking. Most baking recipes include this step so ensure that you’re following them keenly.
Convection Bake
The toaster oven settings meant for convection baking functions by circulating heat on the inside with the help of a fan. With this feature, food is cooked properly when a large part of it is exposed to the heat. For better results, you’ll need to use cooking sheets that don’t cover most of the food.
On the other hand, dishes and baking pans allow more heat to interact with what you’re cooking, ensuring that it is perfectly done. Make sure that the food getting exposed to the heat as possible.
According to most toaster oven manufacturers, you should reduce the heat temperature to about 25 degrees when cooking using the convection bake setting.
Cooking time is majorly affected by the setting you use. Generally, you should check whether the food is ready 10 minutes before the ending time recommended in the recipe.
Broiling
The broiling setting is mostly recommended for meat dishes, such as chicken, fish, pork, beef and others. You can use the oven while it’s still in this setting to prepare other foods as well.
However, you don’t need to cover the rack with aluminum foil when using this function. If you cover the rack, then the oil that’s getting out won’t drop into it. When a lot of oil collects on the surface of the aluminum foil, there is a high risk of a flame starting. If you must use aluminum foil when cooking, ensure that it doesn’t get into contact with any of the heating elements.
When using the broiling setting, put almost a ¼ cup of water on the lower part of the tray to reduce sizzling and splattering.
Where you should place the oven rack will depend on the thickness of whatever you are cooking. Always place the broiling rack in the dripping tray.
Toasting
Toaster ovens have unique settings. If you’re utilizing the toast function, remember to always place the rack in a way that will allow your bread or bagels to toast evenly. You can achieve this simply by inserting the rack in the center part of the toaster oven.
Toaster oven settings vary, depending on the brands as well as manufacturer. Go through the manufacturer’s manual before using your new kitchen appliance. This is important to know how to properly use the toaster and also ensure you are safe.
When you use the right toaster oven setting when preparing your food, the result will come out as you wanted or how it was intended in the recipe. Finally, make sure that you’re using your toaster oven for what it was designed for.
