J & J Homestead

After weeks of waiting, researching, comparing ovens, and trying to figure out how to keep the J & J Homestead farmstand stocked without a reliable oven, I can finally say it:

The new oven has arrived!

And I am SO excited.

But apparently getting the new oven was only the first part of this adventure. Now I actually have to learn how to use it!

Our old KitchenAid oven served us for many, many years, and I knew that oven. I knew where the hot spots were. I knew how long my cookies needed. I knew which rack worked best. I knew when something needed to be rotated and when I could leave it alone.

There is something to be said for baking with an oven you’ve used so many times that you don’t really have to think about it anymore.

Now?

I’m starting over.

And while our new KitchenAid oven has technology that should eventually make baking for the farmstand faster, more consistent, and much more efficient, there is definitely going to be a learning curve.

So, welcome to the next J & J Homestead adventure:

Learning how to bake all over again!

Saying Goodbye to an Oven I Knew Inside and Out

If you’ve been following along, you know our oven problems threw a pretty big wrench into our normal farmstand routine.

When you bake occasionally, losing an oven is inconvenient.

When you’re trying to produce cookies, breads, muffins, and other goodies for a busy farmstand while also working a full-time job and running a homestead, losing your oven is an entirely different situation.

Time matters around here.

Efficiency matters.

And our baking schedule has to fit between work, animal chores, gardening, running the farmstand, and everything else happening on the homestead.

That’s one reason I was so excited about upgrading to a newer KitchenAid oven.

I wasn’t simply looking for something that could bake a tray of cookies.

I wanted an oven that could help me bake more efficiently.

And that’s where convection baking comes into the picture.

My New Challenge: Learning Convection Baking

I’ve baked for years, but using convection more extensively—especially for multiple trays of cookies at the same time—is going to require some experimenting.

Convection baking uses a fan to circulate heated air throughout the oven. In theory, that circulating air can help create more even temperatures throughout the oven cavity.

And for someone like me, the really exciting part is the possibility of baking multiple trays at once.

Think about what that could mean on a big farmstand baking day.

Instead of:

Bake one batch.

Remove it.

Load another.

Bake.

Remove.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

I may be able to have multiple trays going at the same time.

That could be a HUGE improvement in efficiency.

But I’m also discovering that it isn’t necessarily as simple as throwing three trays of cookies into the oven, hitting “Convection Bake,” and walking away.

Multiple Trays of Cookies at Once? Yes, Please!

This is probably the feature I’m most excited to master.

On a busy baking day, I might be making several different kinds of cookies for the farmstand. Chocolate chip, S’mores, birthday cake cookies and whatever else happens to be on that week’s menu can mean a lot of time standing in front of the oven.

Being able to bake multiple cookie sheets simultaneously could completely change my workflow.

But first, I need to figure out a few things.

How should I space the racks?

How many trays can I realistically bake at one time while still getting consistent results?

Do the upper and lower trays brown differently?

Will I need to rotate the pans?

Does convection change my baking time?

Should I lower the temperature from my traditional recipes?

And perhaps most importantly…

Will my cookies still come out exactly the way I want them?

Because efficiency is wonderful, but not if it comes at the expense of quality.

Learning the Personality of a New Oven

Here’s something I’ve learned after years of baking:

Every oven seems to have a personality.

Even when the display says 350°F, that doesn’t necessarily mean two different ovens are going to bake a cookie exactly the same way.

My old oven and I had an understanding.

I knew its quirks.

This new KitchenAid and I are still getting acquainted.

So, for the first several baking sessions, I’m going to pay close attention to things like:

• How quickly the oven preheats
• How evenly cookies brown from front to back
• Differences between conventional and convection baking
• The best rack positions for multiple trays
• Whether pans need to be rotated during baking
• How convection affects baking times
• Whether my existing recipes need temperature or timing adjustments
• How many trays I can bake simultaneously without sacrificing quality

Basically, I’m going to be doing a whole lot of experimenting.

And probably eating a few test cookies along the way.

You know…for quality-control purposes.

It’s a tough job.

Convection Bake vs. Traditional Bake

One of the biggest adjustments will be figuring out when I actually want to use convection.

Traditional baking relies primarily on heat from the oven’s heating elements, while convection introduces moving air into the equation.

That airflow can be especially useful when you’re trying to bake foods more evenly across multiple racks.

For cookies, that sounds incredibly promising.

But convection can also affect how quickly the exterior of baked goods cooks and browns. Depending on the recipe and oven, I may need to experiment with slightly different temperatures or shorter baking times.

That means I won’t immediately convert every recipe I have to convection.

Instead, I’m going to test.

One recipe.

One batch.

One adjustment at a time.

Because the goal isn’t simply to bake things faster.

The goal is to produce the same—or hopefully even better—results while making our farmstand baking days more efficient.

Why Baking Multiple Trays at Once Matters So Much

This might seem like a relatively small upgrade until you look at how a farmstand baking day actually works.

I still have a full-time job.

We still have chickens and turkeys that need to be cared for.

There are gardens to tend, eggs to collect, animals to feed, products to package, labels to print, and a farmstand to prepare.

And somewhere in all of that, the baking needs to happen.

That’s why increasing oven capacity can potentially make such a difference.

If I can successfully bake two or three trays of cookies in roughly the same window of time that I previously baked one, I’m not just saving a few minutes.

Over the course of a large baking day, I could potentially save hours.

That’s more time for the homestead.

More time for the farmstand.

More time for my family.

And, considering my ultramarathon training schedule these days, maybe even more time for running!

Efficiency isn’t about trying to cram more work into every day.

For me, it’s about finding ways to make the work we’re already doing fit better into the life we’re trying to build.

There Will Probably Be Some Baking Fails

I’m also going into this knowing that everything probably isn’t going to be perfect on the first try.

There may be some cookies that get a little too brown.

There may be trays that need to be moved.

I may discover that three trays at once is fantastic—or that two gives me better results.

A recipe I’ve baked hundreds of times may suddenly need another minute.

Or two minutes less.

And that’s okay.

This is part of learning new equipment.

In many ways, it’s no different from anything else we’ve learned on the homestead.

You research.

You try.

You observe.

You adjust.

And then you try again.

Eventually, what feels unfamiliar becomes routine.

First Experiment: Multiple-Tray Cookie Baking

One of my first big tests will be figuring out the best method for baking multiple trays of cookies in a convection oven.

Rather than immediately loading the oven to maximum capacity, I plan to gradually work my way up.

I’ll start with a cookie recipe I know extremely well. That way, I have a good baseline for comparison.

I’ll be watching the bottoms of the cookies, edge browning, centers, spread, texture, and differences between racks.

Then I’ll make adjustments.

Once I find the combination that works, I’ll write it down.

Rack positions.

Temperature.

Time.

Number of trays.

Whether I rotated them.

Everything.

Because once I dial this process in, it could become the foundation for a completely new—and hopefully much faster—farmstand baking routine.

A New Chapter in the J & J Homestead Kitchen

As frustrating as the whole oven situation has been, I’m genuinely excited about what comes next.

The old oven forced us to change our plans.

The new oven gives us an opportunity to improve them.

I’m excited to learn the technology.

I’m excited to experiment with convection baking.

I’m REALLY excited about the possibility of baking multiple trays of cookies at once.

And I’m looking forward to seeing just how much more efficient our baking days can become.

Will there be a learning curve?

Absolutely.

Will I probably stare through the oven door at the first three trays of cookies like I’m watching the final minutes of a championship game?

Also absolutely.

But that’s part of the fun.

Homesteading has taught me over and over again that you’re never really finished learning.

There’s always another skill.

Another piece of equipment.

Another problem to solve.

Another experiment to try.

So here we go.

New oven. New technology. New baking routine.

And hopefully…

a whole lot more cookies coming out of this kitchen!

Let the new adventure begin!