Dacor dacor Dehydrating/Defrosting cont, Proofing, Adjusting the Oven Temperature

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Dehydrating/Defrosting (cont.)

Operating the Oven

Dehydrating/Defrosting (cont.)

Solving Discoloration Problems

To prevent darkening during dehydration and storage, you should steam blanch apples, apricots, peaches, nectar- ines, pears or foods that will oxidize.

To steam blanch:

1.Add one inch of water to a four quart sauce pot. Insert the steam basket and place the fruit in it.

2.Cover the pot and steam for one to two minutes.

3.Remove with a slotted spoon and dab with a paper towel to remove excess moisture before dehydrating.

4.Apples, pears, pineapples and some other fruits will brown or darken during dehydration. To prevent dis- coloration, dip fruits in pineapple juice or lemon juice after steam blanching.

Creating a Candied Effect

To give fruit a candied effect and to help retain color, blanch them in a simple syrup. You can candy the fruits mentioned above as well as figs and plums. The basic ratio for a simple syrup is one cup of sugar to one cup of water. Add these ingredients to a four quart stock pot and bring to a boil. Stir until all the sugar dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the cooktop and allow it to cool. Dip fruit into the simple syrup after it has cooled.

Preventing Tough Skins When Dehydrating

You should water blanch items with tough skins such as grapes, prunes, dark plums, cherries, figs and some types of berries. Water blanching these types of fruit will crack the skins so that moisture can escape and dehydration can be done more effectively.

To water blanch:

1.Bring two quarts of water to boil in a four quart sauce pot.

2.Drop the fruit in the water for one to two minutes, or until the skin begins to crack.

3.Remove the fruit with a slotted spoon and dab dry with a paper towel before dehydrating. The pit can be left inside or removed half way through the dehydrat- ing process.

Defrosting Tips

Food that takes an exceptional amount of time to defrost will not defrost well in a convection oven.

You should not defrost anything that would normally take over two hours to thaw. The food will begin to spoil because the defrost temperature is not high enough to cook the food.

If you have a partially defrosted turkey, rib roast or other large cut of meat, you may continue to defrost it in your convection oven. If wing tips and legs begin to dry out when you defrost poultry, you may wrap the tips with aluminum foil.

If you are defrosting a small cut of meat, lay it on a flat cookie sheet with a one inch rim to catch juices as the meat thaws.

Thick, frozen casseroles such as lasagna will not defrost well in your oven. Instead, defrost accord- ing to the food manufacturer’s suggestions. You may also defrost casseroles in the refrigerator overnight. You should leave the food in its original container and keep it covered.

You can bake some foods from frozen. Some exam- ples are: pizza, frozen pastries, croissants, cookies, etc. Before baking frozen food, preheat the oven.

Proofing

You can use your range to proof yeasted doughs at a low and draft-free temperature using the bake mode.

1.Press the BAKE key.

2.Enter the temperature of 100°F on the keypad.

3.Press START · CONTINUE.

4.Place the dough in a greased bowl inside of the oven. Cover it with either a damp cloth or plastic wrap coated with a nonstick spray.

5.Turn on the oven light.

6.Set the timer for the amount of rise time in the recipe.

Adjusting the Oven Temperature

Even though your oven is adjusted at the factory to cook at the temperature shown on the display, it may cook faster or slower than your old oven.

Solving Discoloration Problems warning

Do not adjust the probe or self clean offset temperatures. The offset for the probe and self clean offsets must remain at 0 for proper and/or safe operation.

IMPORTANT: Do not measure the temperature inside the oven with a thermometer. Opening the door will cause an incorrect reading. Also, the temperature inside the oven will vary as the elements cycle on and off.

If you are not satisfied with the results from your oven, you can adjust the temperature offset as follows:

1.With the oven off, press and hold the 0 and # keys on the number keypad at the same time. After about three seconds “PASS” will appear on the display.

2.Immediately enter 6428 on the number keypad, then START. “SLCt” (select) will appear on the display.

3.Press the key for the cooking mode you want to change the offset for (CONV BAKE, CONV BROIL, PURE CONV, CONV ROAST, BAKE or BROIL).

4.Enter an offset temperature value from 1 to 35°F (1 to 18 for ovens set to Celsius). Press the # key after entering the numeric value if you want the offset to be a negative (-) value. Press # again to toggle the (-) setting off. “Edit” appears on the display when you start to enter the offset value.

5.Press START · CONTINUE to save the setting.

6.Repeat steps 3 to 5 to offset other cooking modes.

7.Press CANCEL · SECURE to exit offset mode.

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Dacor dacor Dehydrating/Defrosting cont, Proofing, Adjusting the Oven Temperature, Solving Discoloration Problems