Getting Your Crust Right: Why We Added Infrared to Our Deck Ovens
Most deck ovens do the basics well. You’ve got the stone heating the bottom and the hot air swirling around the sides. It works, but if you’ve spent any time baking, you know the struggle. Sometimes the middle is perfect but the top looks pale, or you just can’t get that aggressive “oven spring” you’re after. That’s why we decided to put infrared (IR) elements right in the ceiling. Think of it like this: instead of waiting for the air to get hot and then heat the bread, IR hits the dough instantly. It’s direct. It’s fast. And it changes the whole vibe of the bake. The science part (but kept simple) We aren’t using standard coils here. We use quartz-encased filaments that shoot out short and medium-wave radiation. Basically, this energy sinks into the surface of the loaf. It kicks the Maillard reaction into high gear, which is just a fancy way of saying you get that deep, golden-brown crust and a much more consistent lift. Plus, because of the quartz, the heat goes exactly where it needs to—down onto the bread—rather than wasting energy heating up the oven’s outer shell. The tricky bits Now, you can’t just throw these in and flip a switch. If you did, you’d end up with a burnt crust and a raw center. To stop that from happening, we gave the IR elements their own PID controllers. This lets us tweak the top heat independently from the deck heat. It’s all about balance. One heads-up: those quartz tubes are a bit temperamental. They hate “thermal shock.” If you blast them with a cloud of steam or a gust of cold air while they’re screaming hot, they can crack. Just give them a little time to ramp up and cool down, and they’ll last you a long time. What this actually means for you If you’re looking at this from a technical side, these are pretty easy upgrades. But for the person actually baking? It’s a win. Because the IR does so much of the heavy lifting, you don’t have to keep the entire oven at peak temperature for nearly as long. You save on power, you turn over batches faster, and you get a level of control that usually only exists in a lab—but with enough space to actually run a bakery.