I have had a number of toaster ovens and air fryers… this thing lights up (with quartz/infrared elements) like no other.
4 slices of bread… 2 minutes 'till toast (evenly). Frozen fries that ask for 15 minutes are done perfectly in 7 (crispy outside and tender on the inside). Same with tots and hash browns, frozen battered fish, and just about anything I want from a toaster.
Additionally, you can bake (but only for up to 25 minutes) from 250-500°F.
Literally no preheating… it comes up to temp almost instantaneously. My only issue might be that you may need to keep an eye on it as it gets so hot, so fast, some recipes need to be adjusted for it.
There was a lot of leftover pizza this past week… I tried a new method: heat up toaster oven with a baking tray on the lowest rack so it gets nice and hot, then add cold pizza.
Hot baking tray got the crust crisp before the cheese has a chance to brown or ooze everywhere.
I think the stovetop method wastes less energy, but this was very successful.
(I also had several slices cold, which is it’s own flavor and texture profile…)
Alright. I discovered this serendipitously. In my jail office, there is no room for a microwave ( no room); but, I do have one of those dinky coffee pots with the hot plate. This is my source of heat. I prefer my pizza in smaller squares, rather than big triangles, because of this. I’ll have two squares facing, one on top of the other. Wrap in foil and place on babycoffeepotburner (that what I call it); flip it a few times, and I’m gold. Crisp crust, toppings perfect. It’s even easy to separate without losing toppings. I call it babycoffeepotburner pizza. Gonna make me zillions.
I have an effective method that involves buying no new equipment. I place a bare unheated sheet pan in the middle of an oven, crank the temperature to circa 400-410FH (2010-ish Celsius), let it come to full preheated state and sit that way a while, then I place slices as desired on the hot pan. For a New York style or other relatively thin style pizza, I set the kitchen timer to just 6-7 minutes, and then use my pizza peel to lift the sheet pan out of the oven. Let sit for a minute. The process gives some welcome added charring to the bottom of the pizza.
I actually like the pizza better this way than when it was “new,” because American restaurant pizza ovens are almost always too cool at the deck (about 500FH/280C), because Americans often pile so much onto their pizzas. The practice eventually makes for a pretty grody sheet pan, but I have other sheet pans. For a thicker pizza style, better maybe to lower heat a bit and tent with foil and go to 10 minutes. Or even broil a bit to finish.
Note: the quality of the cheese matters. Reheating pre-grated Mozz with all its cellulose, etc., might not work the same.
That was always my go to method. Pizza came out great. I now have a pizza stone. Same method, great reheated pizza!
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
49
I’m curious whether either of you has a “limit” where you won’t use the oven to reheat leftover pizza?
I certainly would do so for a whole pizza or more (e.g., for times when I’d over-estimated guest needs for a relatively large party). I might also do so for 5-6 slices. But I don’t think I’d do it for just one or 2 slices.
P.S. I have a gas oven so preheating is slow compared to electric ovens that I’ve used; this might factor into my reluctance to use the oven for small batch work.
I usually get an individual pie and eat half in the restaurant. I reheat the other half that way. I also do frozen pizzas that way when I have them. One or two slices of regular slice pie go in the Breville toaster oven.
Maybe, at least on this matter, I’m not sensitive as may be about carbon footprint. But I routinely reheat two slices.
My oven heats rather quickly, but still… At least I put very little mileage on my car, and I live in a midwest USA suburb. Bicycles can do a lot.
2 Likes
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
52
I hadn’t considered carbon footprint. Just that my oven is so slow to heat!
Before I got the stones (I’m kind of over-doing it with three in the oven), for bread baking I used to invert one heavy sheet pan in the oven to preheat, the other also inverted to do the final rise for bread outside the oven.
Then I’d slip the one with the proofed bread over the other in the oven to do the baking. This actually turns out a bit better than baking bread on a hot stone in some ways, overall, because for me it’s easier than trying to slide the proofed bread off a peel. Depending on the bread recipe.
Do you mind saying what you do exactly; here, or in a PM? My dad was a psychologist at Rikers Island in New York, and we had “correction folks” renting out our top floor in Queens. I work with kids that are wards of the court in California.
I’m a 4K-12 school counselor and jailor. I started at the jail when I moved here, because I moved here in summer and wasn’t going to see a check until Sept. Glad I took that job. Really gave me insight into the darker sides in the lives of many of my kids. I get a lot of info through the jail, most of which I can’t talk about., like my other job. I live for kids and am one of the few Spanish speakers in my district (very agrarian district.) We’re pushing almost 20% Latinos in our schools. That’s me in a nutshell. Wouldn’t trade my school job for anything. Jail, well…
I do post here from my jail job when things are slow. One of those jobs where little is happening or the shmit’s hitting the fan. Clean up the shmit and I can post.
