Many people love baking. Baking is meditative because it is an activity that holds your complete attention, most especially if it’s easy and repetitive.
According to recent market data, the baking trend still maintains a strong level and can only attain elevated sales through 2025. As of the time of writing, baking has become popular as people are working from home and they tend to have more leisure time. Because of the comfort and fun that accompanies this activity, baking has become more appreciated.
Are you interested in baking cookies or cakes but you find it hard to choose the best ovens for baking? If so, perusing this article will be advantageous in helping you make the right decision.
Understandably, choosing a new oven for your home can be quite a challenge because you need to deliberate over the brands, characteristics, and functions, and the types of ovens until you find the perfect one that meets all of your demands. The best ovens in Malaysia can give you just that.
You might also ask yourself if what you need is the best oven for home baking or the best from different professional baking ovens for home. Regardless of what you desire, we are devoted to making this process easy for you. The following guide will help you in choosing the best oven for baking.
Importance of Buying the Right Oven
There are certain features you need to watch out for when choosing the perfect oven for baking at home. It is possible you already know much about convection heating. Unlike the radiant heat generated in a regular oven, a convection oven circulates hot oven air by using a fan. This helps the convection oven to cook food evenly and effectively saves time and energy bills.
You might also wanna check if the oven has an alarm and any delayed start features. This is a good feature that you’ll only appreciate more if you’ve ever had a cooking appliance with a timer that allows you to watch your movie, run an errand, and arrange your space and after the programmed cooking time has elapsed, it shuts itself off. Similar to this, a delayed start feature is good too. You might also consider an oven with a “hold feature” which allows you to keep food warm for an extended period.
Types of Ovens
Baking ovens can be classified into different types depending on the mode of operation and heat transfer mechanism they adopt. These types are explained below.
Gas Ovens
These are ovens that use either natural gas or propane as fuel to start a flame with the base of the oven housing the burner. The flames – which the gas fuels – are radiated into the oven to heat it to the set temperature. The heat is instant – which implies that it generates quickly.
It is better if your home is already equipped with a gas line. However, the oven does not heat so evenly because the temperature can vary considerably. Furthermore, the interior of a gas oven often gets more humid and this can result in problems with the crisping of food.
Some tips help you in getting the best out of a gas oven. It is important that you rotate the cooking trays in order to prevent hot spots. For you to make the heat circulate more evenly, you can set a pizza stone on the floor or one of the lowest racks of your oven. You shouldn’t cook directly on the stone – it’s just there to balance the heat. You can get more crunch on the food by increasing the oven temperature by about 25 degrees.
Also, to prevent the issue of humidity inside the oven, it is advisable you cook any item you wish to make more browned at the topmost rack of the oven.
Electric Ovens
These types of ovens are seen by many as the best because they are easy to clean and easy to use. The best electric ovens for baking cakes are readily available. An electric oven can either be a conventional or convection oven. The type of electric oven you choose to purchase depends on so many factors. The major difference between these types of ovens is in their mode of heating.
A conventional oven (also known as a traditional oven) heats the air inside from the bottom up with its heating elements. This can create inconsistencies in baking as there will be pockets of colder air in some portions. In other words, it’s not great for even heat distribution.
On the other hand, a convection oven uses a fan to circulate warm air evenly inside it. Yet, the interior parts of the oven – such as the dishes with high edges and pans – can have a considerable effect on how well your food is cooked.
The best ovens in Malaysia categorized under electric ovens now come with accessories like a removable crumb tray, wire rack, bake tray or baking pan and more. Some electric ovens are even equipped with a rotisserie function.
Microwave Ovens
The microwave oven heats your food items through the use of microwaves – electromagnetic radiation that is non-ionizing in nature. These radiations have specific features that make them suitable for cooking: they are reflected by metals, they are readily absorbed by foods, and they can penetrate through plastic, glass, and related materials.
Inside the oven, a magnetron produces the microwaves, and this radiation bounces off the interior of the oven and makes the water molecules present in the food vibrate. When these molecules vibrate, there is friction, and this generates sufficient heat that drives up the temperature of the food – effectively cooking it.
These microwaves do not have the same risks as those posed by X-rays and ionizing radiation. However, long exposure to them can heat your body tissues via the same mechanism they use in heating food items. It is also important to know that a microwave in good condition will not leak these radiations. So, you should replace a faulty one immediately.
Factors to Consider Before Buying an Oven
An oven is an essential appliance in baking. Yet, it is also important to purchase the right oven. To do this, there are some considerations you must go be aware of, and these requirements will help you as a guide in making the perfect choice.
Oven Type and Capacity
These are important factors to consider whenever you decide to purchase an oven. The other characteristics only amount to something when the oven has enough size to meet your demands. The size of your space also plays a significant role in deciding the size of the oven you need. Are you looking for a small countertop oven or a huge built-in oven? Or do you want a microwave oven instead?
It is also worth mentioning that a smaller oven implies that you may be forced to place your food items close to the oven walls. This can result in the burning of the surface of the food, rendering it underdone. Also, even though baking depends on the air circulation in the oven, if you attempt to bake a large food item in a small oven, any heating element may trap hot air inside the oven, and this can considerably aggravate the aforementioned issue.
Furthermore, the type of oven you choose depends on how fast you want your food to get done, how efficient you want, and how much you want to save your energy. You might opt for a gas oven if you want faster cooking. However, if what you want is efficient cooking with even browning and even distribution of heat, you should opt for a convection oven – a form of an electric oven. Also, a convection oven is perfect if you want to save energy as cooking is done at a lower temperature, often by 25 degrees lower. Knowing the type of oven and the capacity is very important whenever you wish to get one.
Budget
We all want our space to be heavily stocked with extravagant appliances, probably to make our home look nice or we want something that serves our needs for the long term. This is a fair desire. Yet, it is worth noting that you know what you can afford before you go for something expensive. Once you realize that your dream oven is out of your reach, it is best you go for a less expensive one that does not just lie within your budget, but also meets your full demands regardless of your budget.
Oven Brand
Another important factor worth considering is the brand of oven. Top companies across the globe build their brands to strengthen their reputation. With their reputation on the line, these companies try to make it their priority to manufacture products that will generate them good reviews. Because of this, it is easy and advisable to trust a well-known brand with your needs. By doing this, you are almost certain of getting a product that will meet your demands.
Helpful Baking Modes
Before you go all out to purchase an oven, you should consider the symbols and settings on your dream oven. You must understand the baking modes of the oven. It is better to purchase an oven that offers you many options anytime you wish to use it. Also, the settings should be easy to comprehend. Understanding these modes implies that you can use the oven with great effects. They also ensure that you do not run into problems when using it.
Temperature Settings
Oven temperature is one of the salient parameters in baking. It must be appropriately measured and controlled in order to have complete control of the baking conditions which affect the product. Hence, having an oven with variable temperature settings grants you the chance to cook a wide variety of food items. More than that, many professional bakers look for an oven with precise temperature control and this is a feature that the best ovens on the market can offer.
For instance, at 325°-350°F, this is the temperature range people use most times. This is when caramelization – the browning of sugars – and Maillard reaction (the browning of protein) start taking place. Generally, cakes are baked at 350°F. Increasing the temperature to between 375°F to 400°F, you can make cookies or golden cheese. At temperatures within 425°F to 450°F, you can make ideal golden roasted vegetables. At the temperature range, you can make any short-term baking or roasting. Finally, at a temperature range of 475°F to 500°F, you are likely to make bread or a pizza.
You should consider the temperature settings of an oven before purchasing it.
Best Baking Ovens to Consider
Here are some of the best ovens in Malaysia that will be a great fit for your home. These will give you a head start on choosing the best oven for baking.
Best built-in microwave oven: Sharp Microwave Oven with Grill (Modern)
This oven has a 25-L capacity and can reheat, bake and grill large quantities of food, which makes such an amount of food more evenly cooked. It has a dimension of 513mm × 307mm x 430mm. It has a 315mm turntable size and a 900W rating. It also has a pizza mode and 3 auto-cook menus. There are benefits associated with its usage:
- It possesses a high rack
- It has a 1000-quartz top Grill
- It has a considerably large turntable size of 315mm
- It also had a pizza mode
Despite all these advantages, it has a major disadvantage. It has a significantly slow cooking duration.
Best electric oven for those on a budget: Pensonic Electric Oven PEO-2305 (23L)
Arguably the best example of a real budget electric oven, this is a great 23-L oven. With this electric oven, you can grill, toast and bake. It has some admirable features:
- A 60-minute timer that gives a chiming sound once it’s up
- 4-piece stainless steel heating element.
- Stainless steel control panel
- An adjustable temperature control
Pros:
- It has a steel touch control
- It possesses a reheating feature
- It also has an auto-cooking feature.
Cons:
- Might be small for a large family.
Best smart oven with numerous features: Electrolux 53L Built-in Oven with Grill function EOB2100COX
The Electrolux EOB2100COX built-in oven is an excellent choice with many features if you want a low-cost, but dependable oven. This built-in oven has many features:
- It has a collection of cooking modes: Electrolux baking, grilling, and roasting options.
- Even heat distribution supported by a fan
- It has a glass door with several layers
- It is easy to clean
- It has a cooling fan
- Auto-off timer
- It has an acoustic insulation
- High-gloss enamel when lining
- Its door is easy to clean
- Its surface material is stainless steel.
Pros:
- It has a large fan which ensures uniform cooking temperature
- Its interior has an enamel coating that effectively repels grease and dust, making cleaning and maintenance so easy.
- The oven can be used for different purposes, including traditional cooking, defrosting, and grilling.
- It is equipped with energy-saving technologies that will help you save your money.
Cons:
- With time, the enamel coating will flake off.
- It has no child protection lock
- There is no interior light that can help you determine the progress of the food.
Best oven for professional bakers: Panasonic NN-GT69J MICROWAVE OVEN 31 Litre
This grill microwave has a capacity of 31 liters, an oven dimension of 247mm × 359mm × 362mm, and an outside oven dimension of 310mm × 525mm × 401mm. It can be used for baking and toasting. It has some great features:
- Panasonic inverter feature
- It has a side door with a push-open characteristic
- It also has a digital control panel
- It has an LCD display time
- Turbo defrost
- It has both auto-cook and auto-reheat feature
Pros:
- It has an oven capacity of 31 liters
- As mentioned earlier, it has an LCD display panel
- Its inverter power supply of up to 240V
- As aforementioned, it has turbo defrost and multi-stage cooking features.
Cons:
- It is a grill microwave without a convection mechanism
Conclusion
With the increased level of the baking trend across the globe, owning a a built-in oven or a microwave oven can be quite advantageous. It also plays a major role in our homes. It is used daily in heating our food items, baking cakes, cookies, making pizza, bread, and lots more.
A good oven ensures healthy cooking. There are several varieties of ovens based on their features, specification, and heating elements. The best ovens in Malaysia for baking will be able to fulfill all your needs and make baking so much easier.
However, if you have any questions, you can leave a comment. The popularity of baking as an activity can only increase and having the right oven will make baking/cooking so easy and fun for you.