How To Use A Convection Microwave For Baking

When I started writing the series for beginners, this post should probably have been the very first! Very naturally of course as buying an oven or knowing how to use your existing microwave (if suitable for baking) is the foremost step in getting one started with baking. Some of us have purchased microwaves when they first hit the market, been using it for heating and cooking a few things. Now you suddenly have the urge to see if you can bake in it too! If you are like me, most likely the manual is misplaced, if you have a hubby like mine, there is at least some hope of retrieving it. In any case, knowing the oven type, the accessories that came with it or trying to replace them is a good start. So shall we get started on this rather rather lengthy post? Sorry, could not help it!

Please note, I use an LG  convection microwave (MC8040NSR), and the information I have given below is mostly with this one in mind, though I have included a bit about Samsung too. This again is just sharing my personal opinion from my experience in using a convection microwave for about 2 years.

• Basic microwave functions : There are three basic functions a microwave can perform - cook, bake, grill. 
• Microwave function for regular cooking, de-frosting, re-heating and even some instant mug cakes (more below). 
• Convection function to literally bake anything - from cakes, cookies, breads, pizzas - I mean everything!
• Grill  for grilling vegetables, meat and the kind.

Microwave Accessories : You get these along with your oven depending on the type of the microwave you have (given below) : A glass turntable, a short metal rack for baking, a high metal rack for grilling.  You sometimes also get a non stick large round tin for baking pizzas.

Microwaves fall in 3 basic categories, a  basic microwave, microwave cum grill and then the convection microwave. There are more too, but to that later.

1. A solo microwave / a basic microwave - All of us know how to use this, but bear with me . One which comes with a microwave mode only. Allows you to set the time and the power level of cooking - high, medium, low power, defrosting food and some auto menus. Comes with a glass turntable on which you place your dish.

This kind of microwave can be used for re-heating, cooking and defrosting frozen food. Period. But no you can't bake anything in this, but can certainly cook some kinds nice instant microwave brownie,  cinnamon crisps , fat free potato wafers  and even some types of regular cakes and brownies. These get cooked really fast, as in a minute or two for single serve portions and around 8-10 minutes for other kinds of cakes and brownies, depending on the size of the pan and quantity of batter.

Be aware that  instant versions of brownies and mug cakes are good consumed immediately though some cakes and brownies may keep well.  But yes, you can very surely try these, I do quite often as they are life-savers! Am not crazy about using this mode for the regular cake kinds etc or maybe I haven't tried the right recipe. If I do, you will surely find it here !

What you could use : Any good quality microwave safe containers, your coffee mug, Borosil kinds of glassware, Tupperware. You can't use metal tins and pans as it will cause arching.

How to use : By default, your microwave will set on the highest power, you can see it as either HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW etc or 900 (watts), 700, etc. Set the time and power levels as needed. You will need to consider the 'standing time' i.e, the time after the microwave is turned off, but during which the food continues to cook with the internal microwave energy in the food. Useful to keep this in mind while cooking instant cakes and brownies. Overcooked food tends to burn ..sometimes along with your Tupperware!

2. Microwave cum grill : Apart from the basic microwave functions above, this type of microwave has a grill function also, allowing you to grill vegetables, cottage cheese and meat, sometimes with the combination of both modes working simultaneously. Apart from the glass turntable, this must come with a tall circular metal rack on which you place the food to be grilled. Has function knobs or buttons indicating Microwave and Grill, and a combination of both.

3. Convection or combination microwave: Now, we talk baking! Microwaves in this category come with it all! Microwave, grill and convection modes. It has function knobs indicating microwave, grill, convection, a timer, temperature setting buttons and power setting buttons for use in microwave mode. This microwave comes with the glass turntable, a low circular metal rack for baking, a taller one on which you grill food and a motorized rotisserie for cooking meat again. Irrespective of what mode you need to use, the turntable and the roller wheel beneath it need to remain in place at all times, except of course when you clean the microwave.

Microwave mode : So when you have this type of an oven, you normally keep the metal racks under the table till you need them for baking. Otherwise use the microwave for mundane but essential purposes. Using this mode in a convection oven is the same as given above.

Grill mode:  To use this, place the tall metal rack on the turn table and the food on the grill, press 'Grill' (you can’t set the temperature here, at least not in mine) and set the timer.  If you do not grill a lot, this rack can still be put to use as a cooling rack.

Convection mode : This is the mode used for baking where you need the low metal rack to place your baking tray on. 

In this mode your microwave works just as an OTG works. So you can use aluminum baking tins and pans, glassware,silicon and ceramic ware like ramekins and other oven safe bake-ware.

My oven sets at a minimum of 40 degrees C and a maximum of 250 degrees C. The temperature in your convection microwave sets in certain intervals say 10 degrees, eg, 180 C, 190 C, 200 C and so on as in LG microwaves or in intervals of 20 degrees eg, 180 C,  200 C, 220 C and so on as  in Samsung microwave ovens.

Pre-heating:  You need to pre-heat your oven just as you pre-heat an OTG. Pre-heating is getting your oven to the desired temperature before you put your cake pan with the batter / cookie sheet  in it. For example, the recipe says, pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C. Your microwave takes about 5 minutes or less to pre-heat as compared to the 20-25 minutes in an OTG. So you can pre-heat the microwave even when you are just 5 minutes away from getting your cookie dough/ cake batter ready.

• Place the short metal rack inside the oven on the turntable, make sure its stably placed in the center (hold on, you will not place the cake tin inside right now), close the door, press ‘Convection’.  The display will show 180 degrees temperature by default. 
• Your oven will have buttons to increase and decrease the temperature. So you now keep pressing ‘Increase’ till you see 200 degrees (in this example) in the display. Now press ‘Start’. The turntable will start rotating and your oven begins to heat, the display shows as “PRH’ meaning pre-heat. 
• Once the oven reaches 200 degrees , it will sound a beep (a series actually) and the display shows 200 C. Now, do not press ‘stop’ or do anything other than just opening the door of the oven. Put your bake in, close the door. Set the timer as needed, say 30 minutes. Press ‘Start’. Now your bake cake is baking at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. 
• I prefer to write down the time and the duration for which I have set my oven in my recipe book - just in case of power failure or re-setting the timer by mistake - when you lose track of how long the cake has been baking.

If you need to pre-heat the oven to a temperature less than 180 degrees C, then use the decrease button to set the temperature needed. In case you press “stop’ or leave the oven turned off for more than a minute,  start the pre-heating process all over again as given above.

In my friend's Samsung oven, you press Convection, then press the pre-heat button. The same pre-heat buttons allows you to move the temperature up and down, once you see the desired temperature in the display, press ‘Start’. Your oven starts pre-heating and sounds a series of beeps when heated.

Please note, the microwave once pre-heated will automatically turn off after a certain point of time if you do not proceed with baking. Microwaves don't like being ignored!

Changing the temperature while baking: Some recipes need you to change the temperature while baking, that is, bake say at 190 C for 20 minutes and then at 160 C for another 20 minutes. In this case, pre-heat the oven to 190 C and bake for 20 minutes, then press Stop. Immediately press the convection button, set temperature to 160 C , set the time for 20 minutes and press ‘Start’ again.

Always remember to take the cake /cookies / bread out from the oven once the baking is done.  Do not leave it inside the oven (though the oven turns off by itself, the heat still remains, over baking your cake) unless the recipe specifies you to do so.

After you bake, and the timer goes off, the oven switches off and then does 'cooling'. Wait for sometime if you wish to use it on microwave mode before you use it again.

Capacity of your microwave :  Your microwave, could be anywhere around 20 and 38 liters depending on the brand. Knowing this helps to have a rough idea about the sizes of tins that can fit in your oven and gift yourself a new bigger one if needed!

• If you own neither an OTG nor a microwave and just begun baking, it makes sense to buy a convection microwave as you could use it for both cooking and baking. Helps economize on space too. Buy a big OTG too later (like me).

•  Convection microwaves come with a fan for even circulation of hot air inside. My old 14 liters Morphy Richards OTG does not have a fan, but my new 40 liter one does.

•  A microwave pre-heats in about 5 minutes as compared to an OTG which takes 15-20 minutes. Really useful for quick small batches of baking, seriously useful when you have your batter waiting and there is a power cut!

• Microwaves also come with digital settings for the temperature and time, so more accuracy and less guess work here.
• If you are an occasional, small batches only baker, this will work very well for you! When you turn an obsessed baker wanting to feed all you know, think about buying an OTG too!

• Even microwaves with higher capacity,  say 38 liter ones can't fit in big trays and tins as the turntable needs to rotate as it bakes and the sides of the tin touching the walls of the microwave will cause a lot of disturbance or the turntable may not turn at all. But a 40 liter OTG will be more accommodative as the tray remains in place as it bakes.
• Also you can use only one level of the microwave for baking whereas you can use both the top and bottom racks of an OTG simultaneously.  If you bake for commercial purposes, a microwave is not for you as you will not be able to bake in big batches at one go.
•  When you place heavy pans its a little tricky as the light weight metal rack may tilt with the weight of the pan. Even worse when you place a pan with ramekins surrounded by hot water for baked custards and the kinds!
•  My microwave sets at the lowest setting of 40 degrees and then next to 100 C. An OTG will be more lenient here.
• The space inside a microwave will allow you little room to put your hands in and do anything like re-distributing your granola for example as your hands will touch the hot walls or the top element.
• If you melt your chocolate in the microwave, then learn to melt it on the stove top too as you can't melt chocolate while your oven is pre-heating!

 Buying a microwave: Choosing a good brand first naturally -  I use an LG microwave and its worked really well for me, no complaints on the quality. IFB and Samsung (except for the temperature interval constraint) is supposed to be good too, though I have no idea about the after sales services. Check if your city has good after sales facilities for the brand you choose. A brand new in the market is not very likely to have great after sales services.

Check if the highest and lowest temperature you can set your oven to and the intervals its sets at, 10 degrees is fine, but 20 is a little hard to digest! Also most ovens here come with a maximum temperature setting of 250 degrees C which in itself is low for baking pizzas, so make sure the maximum temperature is at least 250 degrees C.

I would personally prefer microwaves with digital settings as compared to the analog ones for greater accuracy and consistent results.

Having used an OTG first when I started to bake, I had my own reservations about using a microwave for baking. But I must say, I have not found a great deal of difference between the bakes done in either.