recipes written for deck ovens - how do I translate temperatures to my OTG?

Equipment & Setup deck-ovenotgtemperaturebread

A lot of the professional recipes I'm learning from assume a deck oven. When one says 200 degrees, do I just... set my OTG to 200? My results say no but I don't know the conversion.

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2 replies

Your results are correct: don't copy the number. The working rule from the course - deck 200°C ≈ OTG 180-190°C. Always translate DOWN when moving a deck recipe home.

Why: a deck oven surrounds the bake with heavy stone mass and steady radiant heat. An OTG's exposed heating rods run harsher and closer, so the same dial number scorches faster, especially tops and edges. Dropping 10-20 degrees puts the actual heat experienced by the loaf back where the recipe intended.

Deck ovens remain the bread ideal - stone sole, independent top/bottom heat - but the translation rule plus a stone or thick tray in your OTG closes a lot of the gap. And keep an oven thermometer inside regardless... the dial on most OTGs is a work of optimistic fiction.

"a work of optimistic fiction" - mine runs 20 over. between that and the deck conversion I've basically been baking 40 degrees hot 🫠

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