Fan oven? What the heck?? HELP!!

Okay, so, we've been in the new place for a week now, but I haven't yet managed to get up the courage to turn on the oven - largely because we appear to have not one, but two!!  With the exception of a couple of ancient gas ovens that only worked ten percent of the time, I've always had simple old electric ranges.  I want to make an angel food cake tomorrow, though, and I'm not going to separate all those eggs only to have the oven ruin the whole thing! 

What do I need to know?  Are cooking times/temps different?  What's this upper/lower oven thing?  What about rack positions?  *headdesk*  HELP!

ETA: This is what it looks like:

http://www.homeproductshop.com/brandt_fd282_double_oven.asp

Usually the upper is the grill and the lower is the actual oven 

I usually reduce the cooking temperature by 10 or 20 degrees as things cooked much faster in my fan oven. I also got an oven thermometer as I found that the temperatures on the dial were not always accurate (but that could have just been my bad fan oven).

Usually the upper is the grill and the lower is the actual oven 

See, I was afraid someone was going to bring up the grill thing....I've been here two years and I still haven't figured out the grill concept!  I have a toaster oven (a little countertop one) that I use to do cheese on toast and stuff like that - so I could do this in the upper one, then?  And the cake would go in the bottom one?  Could I make both at the same time?  (Not that I want both at the same time, but could I?)  *flails*

I usually reduce the cooking temperature by 10 or 20 degrees as things cooked much faster in my fan oven. I also got an oven thermometer as I found that the temperatures on the dial were not always accurate (but that could have just been my bad fan oven).

Dumb question, but...10 or 20 degrees C?  Or F?

I love my fan oven! But when I first started using it I burned everything!

I reduce the temperature by about 10 degrees and take 5-10 minutes off the cooking time.

See, I was afraid someone was going to bring up the grill thing....I've been here two years and I still haven't figured out the grill concept!  I have a toaster oven (a little countertop one) that I use to do cheese on toast and stuff like that - so I could do this in the upper one, then?  And the cake would go in the bottom one?  Could I make both at the same time?  (Not that I want both at the same time, but could I?)  *flails*

Yes you could make both at the same time.

Your grill is good for crisping toppings on things...e.g shepherds pie..apple crumble..that kind of thing.

You can make cheese toasties in it by putting the bread on a grill pan and toasting one side then flipping it over and toasting the other..whip it out..pile loads of cheese on it and Wostershire sauce or marmite ( depend if you like this of course ) whack it under the grill again until the cheese melts on it.  One piece of advice tho and I am sure someone may say different..but when grilling keep the grill door open..don't close it.  It gets far too hot and you end up burning stuff..and keep your eye on it constantly.. 

I have not made cheese on toast in the grill for a long time..I cheat and use my breville sealed toastie maker...Mnn    I am going to make some now..you made me hungry!

It's easy once you get the hang of it.  I did the same and bought an oven thermometer so I could easily do the F cooking thing and make sure the oven was the temp I needed.  With the fan oven (it's a convection oven in the USA) just lower it by about 20C degrees like most people have said.   Usually  boxes with have both directions as many UK food sites.  For US recipes do the same so instead of the equivalent of 375 do about 350.  It takes a bit of fiddling to get your oven just right when converting recipes. 

You can bake in the top part but I think it's pretty useless.. it is good for doing things like keeping things warm and finishing off cooking on stuffing, potatoes and the like as well as grilling.  You should have two dials one for each oven bit.

I hope your cake comes out.  I'll likely be sleeping when you make it, but I'm sure you will be in good hands  here!

One of the real perks of convection ovens is that you can cook more than one thing at a time--unlike traditional ovens where you won't get even cooking if you put things on two shelves.  The fan circulates the air evenly, so things cook on both shelves.  It's really nice for when you are making multiple items.  I love fan ovens--they just take a bit of getting used to.  By the way, if your oven is the same as the one in the pic, the top level is also an oven.  The specs for that one explained some of the different features.

Ovens here cook a bit differently from those in the States as it cook with both the top and bottom heating elements whereas in the States it seems to be just the bottom element with the top element reserved for broiling.  due to this I tend to bake my cakes using the bottom shelf as I find that if I put them in the middle they get a bit too brown on the top.  

Dumb question, but...10 or 20 degrees C?  Or F?

C

Meg, that looks pretty much like our oven - only that's a different brand from ours.

Yes, you can bake in the top oven (putting it on 'Conventional' setting & keeping the door closed for baking) - we tend to bake things like pizza, for example, in the top oven.  Full grill - think like an American 'broiler' function...only be sure you leave the door open for grilling.  I never use the 'Half Grill' function & so not really sure what the point of it is.

And yes, fan ovens you want to set the temp about 20 degrees lower (in C) than the recipe calls for, although some recipes may specify one temp for regular oven, another for fan oven.  I find my oven tends to run hot sometimes - and I might have to set it as much as 30 C lower at times.  You'll have to experiment.  (Have to say I'm not a huge fan of fan ovens - lol!)

But it is a cool piece of equipment in that you can bake different things at once...Thanksgiving dinner?!!! 

Another fan of the fan oven here! Especially the 2 door version like yours. One thing to watch out for - when you open the oven door after you've used it, STEP BACK! You will be hit by a blast of hot air!

The top bit, the grill, can indeed be used as an oven but unless you really need to, not that worth it (I found things burned a lot from the top as it's so small). But I do like to do oven chips or cheese on toast in them. That sort of thing. Oh, I did Spanish tortillas in them as well. And as vnice says, good for keeping things warm on Thanksgiving!

Agree with all the other suggestions of lower temps and times. For your first effort, just watch watch watch that way you won't risk burning it!

Let us know how it goes!

Same as everyone else...I just slightly lower the cooking temps & times to compensate for it cooker things hotter/faster.  The grill (at least one mine) gets REALLY HOT, so I have to be really careful when I'm trying to toast/grill things to check every couple of minutes.

Yeah B... I seem to remember it did well on Turkey day... that and a few microwaves!  Not bad for a small UK oven!

Yeah B... I seem to remember it did well on Turkey day... that and a few microwaves!  Not bad for a small UK oven!