Induction hob

[Oldgreybeard]

A tip for those with airfryers that have a baking function. My wife had to buy some smaller baking tins to fit in the one we bought a few weeks ago. She made some bread yesterday, and some baguettes today, using some new silicone widgets. The baguette one has holes moulded in the bottom of each slot, the loaf "tin" has a silicone/glass fibre mesh for the base.

I can report that both are fabulous, probably the best home made bread we've ever made, and no need to use the big steam oven. Even baked dry, without steam, the combination of these silicone trays plus the way that the airfryer seems to give a very even heat, works brilliantly, with a lovely crisp crust.

[Joeboy]

Very nice joe, do try to make up a small pan of caramel sugar to find any switching frequency problems, ..The only downside we found on our Ikea hob, which I'm loathe to fit yet another hob to replace the c r@p whirlpool unit. If anything I think a two setting unit & make more top space for the gadgets.
(Have yet to run into a 2 or more pans needed occasion in 12 months, which puts it into perspective)

Do you reckon they will next create a tax at point of purchase for total output of things like hobs as part of a tax raising energy efficiency drive in coming months / years ..just in case, I think I'll beat em to it

Cheese sauce Gus. Air fryer and induction hob both on. Grid hasn't even flickered.

Effortless cooking, so fast, so responsive. No heat up in the room, cool cooking!

[Joeboy]

A tip for those with airfryers that have a baking function. My wife had to buy some smaller baking tins to fit in the one we bought a few weeks ago. She made some bread yesterday, and some baguettes today, using some new silicone widgets. The baguette one has holes moulded in the bottom of each slot, the loaf "tin" has a silicone/glass fibre mesh for the base.

I can report that both are fabulous, probably the best home made bread we've ever made, and no need to use the big steam oven. Even baked dry, without steam, the combination of these silicone trays plus the way that the airfryer seems to give a very even heat, works brilliantly, with a lovely crisp crust.

I have one of the baking silicone trays. Excellent.

[Mr Gus]

Last week we enjoyed (first time ever) "properly cooked" vegetable spring rolls ..sorry to disappoint they were lidl / Aldi for test cook purposes. ..blown away.

Tonight we are air frying parmentier potatoes with a couple of chicken kyivs to suss out potential.
Last week it was oatmeal crust smoked haddock & cheese fish cakes which were the bomb, as were the aldi spicy bean-burgers which ended up as wraps with salad, so far so good in terms of speed & even air-blasting cooking.

Very impressed with one niggle about the connection on the air fryer lid & lack of normal pre-sets for the job air fry functions.
Do I take it back on that basis & get one with the layered tray options for less hassle, but less overall efficiency in terms of insulation / leakage ?

[Joeboy]

Back home this morning and SWMBO has arranged RE cooking corner with airfryer, Big kettle for WBS, cast iron Big pot for induction or WBS and lastly the induction hob itself. I think today is full kitchen revamp and pot clear out. God help me!

[Stinsy]

Back home this morning and SWMBO has arranged RE cooking corner with airfryer, Big kettle for WBS, cast iron Big pot for induction or WBS and lastly the induction hob itself. I think today is full kitchen revamp and pot clear out. God help me!

Nice work!

There is a tendency to collect a vast number of cooking pots, these are seldom actually needed. Take the opportunity to declutter your cupboards a bit!

[Mr Gus]

Thanks OGB, I hate silicone cookware personally (feels grubby even when clean)
And brewers are very anti silicone as top gaskets for example.
Obviously we have them as sealing assistance in our instantpots & they've survived that well that I'm still on the originals.s

Takes me back to when the nipper & I used to weekly bake a slab came of her choice to take a slice with packed lunch, the grease proof paper liners worked well for that, ..if our latest one has bake option I'll give something a whirl, ..May have to use a champagne yeast though, all out of regular type from using it to catch 1000's of flies over summer.

Was never impressed by our Panasonic bread maker results, "fingers n' that" (I miss that emoji)

[Oldgreybeard]

Thanks OGB, I hate silicone cookware personally (feels grubby even when clean)
And brewers are very anti silicone as top gaskets for example.
Obviously we have them as sealing assistance in our instantpots & they've survived that well that I'm still on the originals.s

Takes me back to when the nipper & I used to weekly bake a slab came of her choice to take a slice with packed lunch, the grease proof paper liners worked well for that, ..if our latest one has bake option I'll give something a whirl, ..May have to use a champagne yeast though, all out of regular type from using it to catch 1000's of flies over summer.

Was never impressed by our Panasonic bread maker results, "fingers n' that" (I miss that emoji)

There are several different types of silicone. I had occasion to look into this when I was working, following reports of skin sensitivity from people handling silicone seals and other products in the lab.

The cheaper silicone rubbers use a process called condensation cure, where the liquid silicone is polymerised to a semi-solid using a catalyst that gives off either an alcohol or a ketone, often an acetic one. This process is cheap, but the excess catalyst plus the condensation products continue to leach out from the silicone rubber for some considerable time, perhaps as long as years. In general terms this type of silicone rubber is often referred to as being "non-food safe", although the hazards associated with it only really became widely known when companies started producing sex toys with it a few decades ago. . .

"Food safe" silicone rubber (really inert and body safe, as it's widely used in surgery and medicine) uses a different cure process, often referred to as addition cure. Instead of using a potentially toxic liquid catalyst, this process uses tiny amounts of platinum in one component (both components are viscous liquids) as the initiating agent for polymerisation, and this becomes locked into the cured rubber, and does not (indeed cannot) be washed out or leach out in use. This type of silicone rubber is also inherently fairly immune from mould or bacterial growth. Most addition cure silicones are certified as being both food safe and skin safe.

So, the bottom line comes down to trusting the manufacturer. I would never, ever, buy any silicone product from somewhere highly dubious like Amazon or eBay, as there is a very high chance that any safety certification is completely fake. Buying from a reputable UK retailer will be more costly, but does at least mean you can be pretty well assured that the product safety certification is genuine. In particular, it seems that the new UKCA certification has not yet fallen foul of the widespread faking that makes the EU CE mark a fairly useless indicator of product safety, so at least for now buying a UKCA marked product is probably a fairly safe bet.

[Mr Gus]

Thanks for that OGB, a darn sight more clear cut than many internet searches & general questions to spods in brand representation.

[Oldgreybeard]

Thanks for that OGB, a darn sight more clear cut than many internet searches & general questions to spods in brand representation.

Took us a great deal of time, and a lot of lab analysis, when I was still working to pin down all the various processes used to produce silicone rubbers. The general rule that condensation cure rubbers are harmful and addition cure rubbers are safe is a safe and reliable rule to abide by, though. I have made a few silicone rubber moulds (made some joke chocolates for Christmas a few years ago) and did have the addition cure silicone I used tested at work (although it was sold by a theatrical prosthetic shop as being skin safe - they use it for making wounds and severed limbs for TV shows like Casualty).

I still have the rubber moulds, might have another go at making novelty Christmas treats this year. Goodness knows where I've stored them, though, not seen them since we moved in here several years ago.