Ovens - use fan or not?

Welcome MsSupertech,

I have used both functions with equally good results.  Somee suggestion of uneven rising with the fan forced but not scientifically conclusive as many other factors could have produced the result.

Try each method and see if you see any effect and settle on the one that you prefer.  If I recall, on my oven there is a limit to the temperature with fan forced at 200C whereas radiant heat can go higher.so I generally now use radiant.

Let us know how you go.

Farinam

My oven is electric with bottom and top elements with separate temp controls and a convection function. I preheat the oven with everything blasting at the highest setting (250 C)--top, bottom, and fan. When I slide the dough in, I turn off the top element and the fan for the first 10 minutes. Then, I go back and turn on the top element and the fan again while turning the temp down to about 200 degrees celcius. I get good results doing that...very even coloring on the crust. Have fun!

Probably best to turn the fan off for the initial cooking when you're trying to create steam - fans tend to suck out the steam. If you're cooking under a cloche, however, it's probably better to leave the fan on, as you should get more even heat distribution that way.

 I too use both. To heat up the oven I set it to the maximum 275°C, which uses the full set of top and bottom heat elements. If I'm steaming, it also has the advantage of heating the bottom tray of water directly, producing a healthy boiling for plenty of steam. Also, the bottom element is heating the baking stone directly, the quickest way.

When I put the dough into the oven, I shield it from the radiant heat of the top elements either with a metal cloche placed over the loaf, or a tray placed on a top shelf - I don't want to toast the top of the loaf.

After 12-15 minutes I change the setting to fan forced which provides a very even heat. Depending on the type of loaf, this might be at 180 to 200°C. 

... I have no choice so fan I do.  I have absolutely no problems with colour or spring.  My oven is such an old piece of rubbish that it does have a hot spot left rear, but I just give all the loaves a turn at half time to sort that out.